YOGI LANG

'A Way Out of Here' is the second solo album from RPWL frontman Yogi Lang, following on from 2010's 'No Decoder'. As would be expected, Lang provides all vocals and keyboards, but has built a full band around him including Torsten Weber who has played with RPWL and well-known German singer Conny Kreitmeier who provides backing vocals. The press release states this is an album of well-crafted art rock songs, and I can certainly understand where they are coming from with that. In many ways it is Gilmour/Floyd crossed with early Eighties Gabriel, and the result is very pleasing indeed to the ear.

I would have preferred if he had moved further away from the sound he has become known for with RPWL, as otherwise what really is the point? Songs such as 'Freedom of the Day' are a delight with its acoustic guitar and mandolin and is so very different to everything around it and this is a style I would like to hear a great deal more of. It's not that I do not enjoy Yogi's material with RPWL, I do, but a solo album should see him having more of an opportunity to move in different directions. He is the voice of RPWL, so people will always associate the two together, but I do wish he had moved farther away from his base. As it is, this is a very pleasant album indeed, although not exactly earth shattering. The CD has also been made available as a limited edition with the bonus DVD "Live At De Boerderij" from 2011, so if you are interested then get in quick.

Yogi Lang, on this album, is still playing the Pink Floyd influenced songs, as he often did in the band he is most known for here, RPWL. That is not to say the songs are not original, but that the textures and feelings can be pinpointed from song to song, bringing up comparisons to Floyd tracks from Dark Side Of The Moon Onward. This isn't so bad, as Gilmour and Waters are both getting on in years, and new material from them is sparse at best. But while Lang has the Gilmour side down close to perfectly, save for the fact that no one can imitate DG's perfectly smooth guitar solos, he is missing Waters' genius. The final effect is that this album comes much closer to sounding like the two Waters-less Floyd albums than anything else. The intention is good, the sound is good. But memorable? No.

In addition to the previous review from Windhawk, it has to be said that Yogi perfectly imitates the famous Manfred Mann's keyboard playing in this album, noticeably in "Sacrifice". For the remaining stuff, it's easy listening casual prog, nothing revolutionnary but pleasant to hear. Of course, the post Waters Pink Floyd era reminiscence is still there. Funny that some musician prefers to imitate this Pink Floyd version than the true one :-) I always ask myself why spending so much energy to create just "another more prog album" that brings nothing more to the world than some more notes and sounds.

German composer and multi-instrumentalist Yogi LANG is a person most likely best known for his lengthy tenure in the German band RPWL, where he has been the front man since its inception. "No Decoder" is his first solo production, and was released in November 2010.

Yogi Lang doesn't stray too far off the path of his band RPWL with his solo debut, and the longer items might as well have been planned for a future release by them. When he ventures forth into new territories it is to ones more frequently explored by artists with a mainstream orientation, by way of pleasant, gentle and unobtrusive ballads, in some cases with a sheer sense of beauty that does make an impact, while others come across as closer to the bread and butter variety of such creations. Overall, this is a disc worth looking into if you enjoy RPWL, and in particular the gentler parts of the band's output.