ANYONE'S DAUGHTER

Surprising. That's the first impression I got from this last work by a double face band. Always into prog-rock but with noteworthy differences between the two periods of their artistic life. It's difficult today to define their music as symphonic prog since they have taken the typical features of neo-prog coming from Germany and Northern Europe. Today they sound like Mind's Eye rather than Genesis, from whom they have definitely taken inspiration in their first period, and the sound that comes out is energetic and fills the space. Aggressive use of guitars with long lasting notes and complex riffs, definitely influenced by metal (see Your Time, The Wrong and Happy Go Lucky), heavy use of keyboards in various ways, including classical piano reminding Everon, very well supporting bass and drum odd rythms are their traits now. They have also assimilated the experiences of the rock of the 80s and the 90s moulding a convincing mix of different emotions. Eventually, the singers' voice is that something giving this band a further quid that makes their music even more attractive.

Gatot is right, there is a definite Neo-Prog flavour to this album,even if this did come out in 1979.The guitar,vocals and emotion bring that genre to mind.I have to say that this album has been an absolute pleasure to listen to,i really wasn't expecting anything this good.Lots of keyboards as well including synths.piano and mini-moog.The bass and drums really impress as well.Just an outstanding release all around. "Adonis" is the side long suite clocking in at over 24 minutes.Yeah this is a ride.Vocals and gentle guitar followed by a fuller sound after a minute.Just gorgeous.The guitar recalls Hackett and we get some organ 3 1/2 minutes in.A darker soundscape after 4 minutes.Thunder followed by rain after 7 minutes.Silence then these ominous synths come in followed by aggressive guitar and drums.Nice.The tempo picks up with mini-moog.Vocals are back before 10 1/2 minutes.Silence after 11 minutes then keys and vocals come in.Beautiful.Some orchestral keys that recall COLLAGE after 12 1/2 minutes.I'm thinking Neo-Prog again after 14 1/2 minutes.Cool section.Some crazy synths before 16 1/2 minutes.Silence 19 minutes in then the piano comes in with vocals a minute later.Check out the guitar solo that starts before 23 minutes to end the suite. "Blue House" is the only instrumental on this album.Synths to open as organ floats in the background.It settles before 2 minutes as the synths stop and the guitar starts to lead.It slowly builds. "Sally" opens with keys as vocals,drums and guitar all join in.Sax 1 1/2 minutes in then it settles down but not for long though.More sax 3 minutes in to the end. "Anyone's Daughter" opens with synths before guitar and cymbals join in.It kicks in around 1 1/2 minutes then settles some a minute later.Some great sounding bass and organ here.Vocals after 4 minutes.Nice.A change before 5 1/2 minutes as the tempo slows down and the vocals stop.It kicks back in before 6 minutes.The guitar sounds so good.Vocals are back before 8 minutes then the guitar rips it up. I must admit the two shorter tracks are good but they don't do a lot for me, but man the 24 minute opener and 9 minute closer are incredible.Without a doubt 4 stars.

I consider "ADONIS " one of the best albuns of late 70's. The music is very captivating and the songs make the emotions flowing easily.

The first track "Adonis" become separeted in 4 parts:

Part 1 - Come Away - A transcendental theme which start with a very liryc guitar fingering and leading the melody In a brief moment to an "fuga" !!! The climax of the music introduce a "dialogue" beautiful of guitar arpeggio & moog solo and in the background a pulsating bass/drums rhythmic secction simple but perfect for the sound.

Part 2 - The Disguise - A relatively small theme whose the mainly atraction is a moog/guitar couterpoint and a very explosive drums.

Part 3 - Adonis - A moment of serenity opening a beauty ballad, but this serenity soon after changing in a very tense moment with a repetitive rythmn with fantastic moog solo Which changing again in a very brief ballad . Part 4 - The Epitaph - Another ballad guided by the guitar melody, closes in great style the track.

The second track "Blue House" is a melancholic number, One of the most beautiful songs of all the times, if you are a rommantic or dreammer this a perfect song.

The third track "Sally" is the most different moment of 'ADONIS' maybe due the presence of sax solo

The fourth track "Anyone's daughter" is a great final theme for this excellent record. A mix of symphonic and ennergetic hard prog, with great moments of hammond organ , great guitar solos and incridible variations of bass and drums.

ADONIS presents one band in a perfect performance, the guitar is very creative, keyboards shows one certanly majesty, the drums and the bass conduct the songs with rich rhythnmic variations and the vocals are very beauty and in many moments is the responsible by captivating the audience.

For this reasons my rate is 5 stars !!!

After getting all Anyone´s Daughter studio albums I was quite curious about hearing them live, since my PA colleague Ken Levine regarded them as a band that plays better in front of an audience. And I must say he is right. Although I wouldn´t call Live a masterpiece, there is no denying that the performance here is quite more powerful than their studio counterparts. It is always good to find a bunch of musicians who actually do their best and need no recording trickery to show how fine musicians they are and how special their chemistry works. This CD is clearly the case.

Ok, some people would say their repertoire is not exactly their finest, since it is focused primerily on Anyone´s Daughter last album, the more commercial leaned, Neue Sterne. But since I liked that record (it is still prog enough to convince me) it´s alright. Besides, their sound was always towards the lighter side of the progressive rock scene (some say it actually open the road for the upcoming neo prog movement). And they never let the quality factor down. Some tracks are specially strong like the live renditions of Moria and Der Plan, real outstanding. I was a bit disapointed that only the first part of Adonis is present, It would be great to have it all since its version here is also better then the famous studio track.

The presence of three unreleased tracks are a bonus and adds a lot to the overall effect of the album. The down side of the tracklist is the inclusion of a drum solo (under the name of Peterchens Mondfahrt). Drum solos are ok during the shows: you have time to go to the bar to get a bear and relax a little before goind back to watch the rest of the show. The inclusion of such display of self indulgency in place of a ´real ´ song (specially when so many AD fine tunes could be here) is unforgiving. 5 minutes and 41 seconds of lost time. The album ends with an excellent, 11 minute, version of the track Anyone´s Daughter.

Live is a real treat for fans of the band. And a good starting point for the ones who still don´t know this rather underrated classic german outfit. An excellent live document that would deserve a five star rating if they had included a complete version of Adonis and dropped the useless drum solo track. As it is, 4,5 stars.

The last complete studio album done by the original line up of this great german band found them in their most commercial path since their inception. but this is far from bad or opportunistic music. In fact they actually produced quite a fine mix of pop and prog and the fact that they were not successful is not related to the quality of their songs. While a lot of other prog acts actually released terrible records trying to survive the late 70´s and early 80´s scene, Anyone´s Daughter bravely fought far longer than most. And when they finally gave in to the mounting pressures, the result was also better than most.

It would be a lot easier for them to sing these tunes in english if they really wanted to win an international audience. But I guess it was not their aim after all. All the music here is tasteful, elegant and very well done. Songs like Der Plan and the title track (the most commercial oriented on the entire album) could have been fine top ten hits. Sadly the whole thing didn´t work out as expected. Anyone´s Daughter would break up soon after and when they came back in the new millenium they were only a shadow of their former self.

Still the music of Neue Sterne stands. I particularly loved the last four instrumental tracks, all showing their skillfullness and fine songwriting abilities. I was glad to see that there were no fillers. The CD also has a good production. It was only a pity that they never got the recognition and exposure they really deserved. But before they left the music scene they released a string of fine prog albums in a time such things were so hard to find.

German band Anyone´s Daughter released In Blau in 1982, proving that prog was not really dead at the time, as some critics and press in general said. In fact, only a handful of bands did ignore all the pressure and stayed true to their roots at the time (I can´t really blame the others, though). In Blau was one of those few records that showed the band was in the right direction when they decided to sing in their native language. They probably figured out they had little, if any, chance to make it in the international market (meaning USA). And stuck with their fans, style and market.

Maybe that´s why this album is so good, although not too many people heard it at the time. Which is a shame by the way. Ok, it is no perfect, some pop moments and some 80´s synth sound creep in here and there, but nothing that compromises their very own sound. In fact, this is one of their best, with no fillers at all. They were too exploring new territories, like the acoustic guitar sounds on Fur Ein Kleines Mädchen and Sonne (very strong Steve Howe influence on this one!). And they also decided to pedal on the epic tune they left out since their first CD Adonis. Even if Tanz Und Tod seems like three different songs put together they do work well as a whole. I loved the powerful instrumental La La (it should be great live!).

With a superb production, In Blau is one of those CDs every prog lover should listen to. It proves once and ofr all the 80´s were not that sterile and had its fine prog moments. And stood well the test of time. Four strong stars.

Wow, this one has really grown on me! More polished sound / slicker production with a slight tendency toward pop and a noticeable "80's" upgrade in instrument sound. This was what I noticed at first listens. Now, however I hear many great melodies and outstanding playing. This is a more mature sounding band. It wouldn't be hard to make a strong case for this as their strongest album, though I think their first still takes the cake for me. More acoustic guitar here, and it sounds really nice. It took me a long time to get into the opening track as on the surface the chorus rings of 80's pop or cheesy jap-rock (and this put me off), but it is a very atmospheric and melodious song that, while still my least favorite track, one I do enjoy and would not want to skip. Though I make mention of pop in reference to this album, it is in my opinion less pop-sounding than their second album, and nowhere close to the vapid pop on their following album. This is their last great (or good) studio album, and still true to their patent sound (symphonic, progressive, melodious etc.) certainly a statement in the punk/pop/disco/metal climate of 1982!.

4.5

Not as great as their first (and slightly subpar IMO to their third - Piktors and their fourth - In Blau), but still a very good album. All tracks are generally good, with nice melodies and good playing, though the music doesn't stand out nearly as much as on Adonis. The sound is also slightly more polished pop-ier, with an evident but not too overdrawn tendency toward shorter and more regular or basic song structures. Between the Rooms is the highlight for me, one of my absolute favorite AD songs, and Swedish Nights, Thursday, Sundance of the Haute Provence and Another Day Like Superman are other great songs.

I think this is an apt analogy:

Adonis:Anyone's Daughter(album)::Hemispheres:Permanent Waves

4.25

Took me longer to get into than their first two, (which I greatly enjoy) but once I got into it, I liked it almost as much as "Adonis" and more than "Anyone's Daughter". Some very beautiful compelling music here. The tracks bind together similarly to the tracks on Camel's "The Snow Goose", with tracks flowing into each other to varying degrees but only highly minimal recurrent themes (are there any?). The album is structured slightly differently than the latter, as there are a few tracks with basic focus given to (German) spoken word lyrics-- I'd imagine recitations of Herman Hesse--, which are less musically involved (though the level does vary) and generally atmospheric. The music here is more progressive than on "Anyone's Daughter", almost as though the band had gone back to 1979 and taken a different course in following "Adonis". Aside from the spoken word vocals in 4 songs, the rest is entirely instrumental. Great album recommended highly, especially to fans of bands like Genesis, Asia Minor, Eloy, Camel etc..

Best track: Sehnsucht

4.25 stars

Like Asia Minor, Genesis, Eloy, Camel, Rush and with a profound krautrock, meets transcendent floyd, melancholy. Outstanding musicianship, songwriting, solos, and instrumentation all around.

This is surely a band for all ages. Their music is very melodic and very emotive. Progressive rock in tune and harmony with its emotions, which I personally Very nice vocals with skilled double(/triple?)-tracked vocal harmonies at points and the guy plays a very solid bass too. Vocals are in English with a slight to moderate German accent and are beautiful. The rhythm section is absolutely solid- enough to keep me, a drummer, enthralled. Beautiful, at times plaintive, melodies and keyboard and guitar solos. Keyboards rival Tony Banks at his most inspired. The guitarist is extremely skilled with a great sensitivity to tone. The drummer extremely skilled too. They play like Genesis in that the composition and overall atmosphere are at the forefront of the agenda. They effectively channel their virtuosity into a collective whole that is greater than the separate summing of their parts. This band is one of the most musically and instrumentally talented I've heard, surely up there with such greats as Rush, Agitation Free, Yes, and Phish in terms of every member being a virtuoso, and the level of virtuosity. Somewhat jazzy, mostly in the last track.

My favorite track is the absolutely stunning "Anyone's Daughter". The keyboardist and guitarist really get to let it rip here, punctuated and sustained by all around excellent drumming. The last minute and four seconds of the title track usually leave me laughing, an absolutely killer guitar solo followed by a speedy drum show ending with a bam. The four-part "Adonis" is also stellar, and manages to compellingly move from triumphant joy to poignant melancholy in the first section "Come Away". The composition is epic and weaves together nicely. The instrumental ballad "Blue House" is a beautifully slow-moving instrumental with a similar feel to some of the work on their later album 'Piktors Verwandlungen'. and the more uptempo and shorter "Sally" is a very enjoyable while more immediate number.

My favorite by the band, followed by 'In Blau'

5 stars.