DE HOMINE URBANO + GREEN MAN

The Danish symphonic prog rock band Ache released their debut album De Homine Urbano in 1970 and in 1971 their second album Green Man was released. This is a CD re-release with both albums for one albums price. There are no extra features but it is still a good initiative. De Homine Urbano consists of two long epic tracks while Green Man consist of shorter songs,

De Homine Urbano is a very organ driven affair which reminds me of a lot of the early seventies prog rock bands from England. What is a bit different is that the guitar from Finn Olafsson is very dominating when it comes to the soloing. He plays with the bluesy late sixties sound. The album consist of two side long compositions where the first one De Homine Urbano is music for a modern ballet. The second one is almost in the same style. There are lots of sections in the songs so they never get boring. Vocals are used sparcely.

The music on Green Man is organ driven like many other early seventies prog rock albums. Equatorial Rain starts the album off with some very simplistic vocal melody lines but the song has many good instrumental parts. This is the way most of the album sounds. There are no deviations from the style. Maybe that should be Ache´s reworking of The Beatles We Can Work It Out/Workin' which is by far the worst song here. The quality in the compositions are generally very good though.

The musicians are very good and it´s a joy listening to them play. Finn Olafsson´s guitar solos have to be mentioned as they are great but I also enjoy Glen Fisher´s drum playing a lot.

The production from the in Denmark Famous Johnny Reimer is very good and it brings out the best in the music. Johnny Reimer is mostly known in Denmark for being the father of the Smerfs and being an entertainer in the light pop/ rock scene in Denmark. The production is the same on both albums.

Both albums are good early seventies organ driven symphonic prog rock albums and they are both a worthy purchase. Buying this CD version will give you both albums which is such a treat. 3 stars for this album.