YACOBS

German project YACOBS is the creative vehicle of composer and musician Ulf Jacobs, and in progressive rock circles he is probably best known for being a part of progressive rock band Argos for the past decade and a bit. This solo project has been an ongoing feature for a bit longer than that though, with the first Yacobs album seeing the light of day almost 20 years ago. "Beautiful" is the sixth album from this venture, and was released through German label Gold Und Tier in the fall of 2020.

While "Beautiful" isn't an album to seek out by those with an interest in stark contrasts and dramatic developments, those who regard the words elegant, smooth and beautiful to be positive and the mention of layered keyboards and various Mellotron-tinged sounds to emphasize that will find a lot to enjoy on Yacob's latest solo album. Especially if music that glides back and forth between mainstream pop/rock and the more inviting aspects of progressive rock is regarded as a positive. Personally I regard this as a solid - and beautiful - production.

Yacobs: "beautiful" (Gold und Trier Records 2020)

Ulf Jacobs publishes his solo CDs under the project name "Yacobs". Since 2001 ("still love you") he has been playing albums that transform his personal experiences, his feelings and thoughts, his love for sophisticated music and his philosophy of life into soundjourneys. He develop his songs about love, about nature and the universal basic themes (joy and sadness, reflection and loss, confidence and fear ...) into continuous prog-rock-suites.

With his 6th soloalbum Ulf Jacobs builds on his previous concept-works, but "beutiful" is also different and shows a noticeable further development. First of all, he uses sound-collages sensitively to expand the sound-spectrum. The atmosphere of the music is much more relaxed, less rhythmic, but more flowing, melodic and mature. Piano- and keyboard-sounds are in the foreground, have enough space to unfold and give the album an orchestral sound. The homogeneous use of the Mellotron makes "beautiful" a prog-oriented album, but catchy yet complex refrains also sprinkle some pop into the songwriting. This creates a noticeable bridge to art rock.

"beautiful" is fun, is consistently worth listening to and an excellent album that belongs in every sophisticated music collection. Ulf (music, text, vocals, keys, drums ...) is supported by several guest musicians (from Argos, Yesterdays, Mutabor) who refine the opulent production and the balanced sound with guitar, bass, backing vocals and flute(!). As always with Yacobs, the album should be heard loud and complete.

The third solo-CD of Ulf Jacobs "Estella" ist different. The mixture of Pop and Prog is the same and also the influence of Phil Collins is current. But something is new: the lead-vocals. Uls sings only backing-vocals. Jess, Maraike, Makana, Jockel and Steffen are invited to sing lead. So the Overall Impression is a lot more of variety and diversity. Also the Songs are different. "More than beautiful" is a simple Popsong, "Mellomania" is a wonderful Prog-instrumental and "Estelle" is a lovely ballad. And one more Thing is new: Ulf uses brass-sounds in "Nothing but you", just like his model Phil Collins. But in total the Album is as melancholic as allways.

"Lifespan" is the second solo-CD of Ulf Jacobs ("Yacobs") from Germany. He Plays drums, piano and all synths with the help of Horst Modler (bass) and Rico Florczak (guitar). Ulf composed the Music, wrote the lyrics and sings all melodies. The selfproduced Album contains 10 Songs about life, love, tears, childrenbooks, everything and nothing. It should be played "loud with the lights off". Not only the cover (a "face value" lookalike), the Music, the Sound, the drum- and pianoplaying reminds where the Inspiration came from: Phil Collins in the 80s (minus the Kool and the gang-touch). Like his Idol Ulf deals between melancholic Pop, singer-songwriter piano man and progressive rock. Of course the Music is more temporary and without Big Band or Soul incredients. The CD running time is 43 minutes. Without stretching the ideas the Music is on a high Level in composition, Arrangement and production. Best song on the Album: childrenbook with Pop up figures.

German project YACOBS is the creative vehicle for drummer, composer and instrumentalist Ulf Jacobs, Yacobs the moniker he has chosen to use as a solo artist. He released his first solo album back in 2001, since then a further four productions have seen the light of day. "Clouds" is the most recent of these, and was released through Musea Records in 2012.

Ulf Jabobs run of solo albums released under the Yacobs moniker have been ongoing for more than a decade by now, and with "Clouds" he has made himself a disc that should have a fairly broad overall appeal. Those with an interest in sophisticated mainstream rock should give this one a spin, and as far as a progressive rock oriented audience is concerned I'd suggest that those who generally found the albums released by SI Music in the 90's to be of interest should be regarded as a key audience for this disc.

Ulf Jacobs maybe better known as the drummer of German progsters Argos, but the truth is he's been measuring up his ability as a composer since the early-00's.As Yacobs, he released three solo albums on Gecko Records (''Still Love You'' (2001), ''Lifespan'' (2004) and ''Estella'' (2007)), all of them being Melodic/Pop Rock works with a few Prog elements.In 2010 he signed with Musea label, followed by his fourth album ''Time machine'', featuring contributions be Argos' bandmates Thomas Klarmann and Rico Florczak among others, while Jacobs plays all drums, piano and keyboard parts and sings.

The change of label was also followed by a change in Yacobs' sound, as ''Time machine'' is a great Progressive/Art Rock album with a few Pop hints added for good measure, somewhere along the lines of CHRIS, NEAL MORSE and T (aka Thomas Thielen).Jacobs manages to create some impressive atmospheric soundscapes, which contain also an efficient instrumental depth and pretty good songwriting.His more laid-back compositions are based on spacey synths, nice use of Mellotrons and acoustic guitars with a FLOYD-ian atmosphere, creating an overall melancholic mood.But the album contains also some great uptempo moments with more optimistic sounds, based on lovely piano interludes, intense vocal lines, groovy guitars and strong use of electronics in an impressive amalgam.''Time machine'' is also characterized by some nice melodic parts, grandiose symphonic textures and excellent coherence throughout to result a work, where atmosphere meets some very strong songwriting skills.

Another example that drummers can also be really great composers.Any lover of the aforementioned figures should purchase this album, that cant do anything else but impress the listener.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.

Must begin with a confession... I don't always look for vintage instruments, virtuosity and tricky time-measures when I'm listening to prog music. The positivity, the moods, the message and the instrumentation can be all progressive in the simplest forms.

Ulf Yacobs' Clouds is a real gem, reminds me of Phil Collins, of Peter Gabriel, but in the same time it's original. In this album songs come first and after that only come the musicians. Lots of 80's synth sounds, Yamaha CP, Roland drum machine (just like on Genesis Duke).

The drum sound is amazing, very Phil Collins-like (gated, compressed)... the bass of Thomass Klarmann are very inventive and form a perfect harmony with Ulf in the rythm section.

Cinderella's theme will re-appear a few times on the record, it ties together the whole album. Twilight Sun is definitely an "unwritten Peter Gabriel song" form the eighties. Moogs, nice synth passages at the end. Very progressive.

Indian Clouds is an instrumental tune with lush acoustic guitar sounds, soundscapes by Ákos Bogáti-Bokor (guitarist of Yesterdays). A bit of Trevor Rabin (in sound) but still very Phil Collins-like mood... nice and tasty quoting, tribute at the end.

Turn Off The Sun is one of the highlights on this album. Intimate sounds on a Yamaha CP piano, after the chorus and some bell sounds the guitar solo is a real treat and a surprise too. Multiple voicings in the solo, nice tone and feel.

All You Have is Now is the most interesting momentum on this disc... the chorus is simply uplifting (to the Clouds)... you can't escape these melodies, you just need to hear it over and over again and after a few times you found yourself humming it while driving. This song truely shows Ulf's fantastic songwriter skills. Amazing song. Electric sitar, guitar synth solo, again, by Ákos. The song brought me back to Pat Metheny's Are You Going With Me, but I think this was intentional, anyway, a perfect fit for the song.

My Very First Day is a modern yet vintage experience with the sweeping moog sounds and the filtered vocals of Ulf. Intimate feel by a child voice in the chours. Stereo effects in the guitar solo, probably played on a sustainer guitar. Interesting and experimentingly fresh.

After all these nice and calm songs there is a need of a powerful "hysteria". Hot Summer In Transylvania is the most powerful instrumental song on this record and it shows all the fantasy of the drummer and of course shows how good is the production of the disc.

A Heavenly Sound somehow reminded me of No Son Of Mine by Genesis... the drum sound is just amazing. Nice composition, nice pop/prog song. The chorus once again is so uplifting.

Lift Off is like a smile on the album... a short instrumental countdown to an imaginery lift-off with lots of guitar sounds... the rythm is like Steve Rothery, the "verse" is Jeff Beck feel - playing with in-between-the-notes, chomas, the chorus is just like Gilmour/Howe/George Harrison. Loving it!

Clouds is the title track, and probably the most melancholic song on the album, somehow still very positive and uplifting with positive, beautiful lyrics. The song has amazing bass playing by Thomas Klarmann (of band Argos) and a moog solo with a very original sound. The song ends with Ákos Bogáti's guitar solo, I am not sure but there may be some Genesis (Hackett) quotes too, guitar with heavy fuzz sounds. Too bad that the song ends with a fade-out, I would have liked a longer version, but I think this is just part of the concept.

The album ends with Dusk, a short piece of piano music, perfect ending for such a good CD.

Production, concept and sound both are high in quality, strong four stars from me. Highly recommended for all Genesis/Phil Collins and Peter Gabriel fans. Very melodic prog.

Ulf ("Yacobs") did it again. After "Time Machine" (2011), a progressive-rock-suite about the adventure of timetravelling, here is "Clouds" (2012), another song-circle swinging between light and dark, hot summer sun and rain, funny dreams of candy stores and the fears of broken homes. The title of the album is "Clouds", but if you see in the booklet, there is only a little cloud on the edge. The cover is mainly shiny blue sky and bright sunlight: "reach for the sky and have no fear." The lyrics are optimistic and so is the music. The beautiful sound of the Mellotron is combined with wonderful synth-tunes, piano melodies, tricky bass-lines and powerful drumming. Ulf takes us "hand in hand" into the beautiful land of "face value" (Phil Collins), "curious feelings" and "fugitives" (Tony Banks) and in the end we "lift of" in terms of "shipbuilding" (Roine Stolt). A fourtysix minutes journey through mind and feelings, colorful, open and positiv.

Yacobs: Time Machine

Ulf Jacobs worked as a teacher at a private school for popular music and is active as a drummer in several bands (www.yacobs.com). Under the name "Yacobs" he also produces solo albums. With "time machine" he has already submitted his fourth CD. Words and music come from his pen, he uses drums and keyboards and sings with an expressive voice about the experiences of time traveling. "Time Machine" is a 40-minute prog rock suite, which consists of 12 carefully interwoven parts. Musically the album with lots of Mellotron, Moog and classic keyboard sounds was placed primarily in the field of symphonic prog rock, whose foundation was made by Genesis a.o. in the seventies. As a reference one could use "Duke", but the remaining three men didn`t placed their songs in the correct order at that time. Exactly that works here: Ulf sets the 12 parts of his work harmoniously and consciously together and created a multi-part suite. Songs and instrumental passages alternate, sometimes dominated by the melody, sometimes driven by the rhythm, again and again the thread is taken of the entire work and gets the tension of it all. Although one could point out a couple of outstanding parts, the album is yet to be heard from the beginning to the end, captivating, imaginative and full of nuances and should be seen as "one track". Beyond fashion trends a mental concept is transformed into sophisticated style and timeless music. And finally we came to the conclusion, we are the time itself - their Lord and prisoner at the same time.