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TRYING TO KISS THE SUN

RPWL

Neo-Prog


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RPWL Trying to Kiss the Sun album cover
3.53 | 173 ratings | 11 reviews | 13% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
prog rock music collection

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Studio Album, released in 2002

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Trying to Kiss the Sun (3:55)
2. Waiting for a Smile (7:04)
3. I Don't Know (What It's Like) (4:32)
4. Sugar for the Ape (5:03)
5. Side by Side (8:35)
6. You (6:49)
7. Tell Me Why (5:08)
8. Believe Me (5:14)
9. Sunday Morning (4:29)
10. Home Again (8:52)

Total Time 59:41

Line-up / Musicians

- Yogi Lang / vocals, keyboards
- Karlheinz Wallner / guitars
- Andreas Wernthaler / keyboards
- Stephan Ebner / bass
- Philipp Rissettio / drums

With:
- Chris Postl / bass
- Stephen Caron / coral sitar

Releases information

ArtWork: Stefan Wittmann

CD Tempus Fugit ‎- 20678 (2002, Germany)

Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition
and to projeKct for the last updates
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RPWL Trying to Kiss the Sun ratings distribution


3.53
(173 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(13%)
13%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(49%)
49%
Good, but non-essential (34%)
34%
Collectors/fans only (3%)
3%
Poor. Only for completionists (1%)
1%

RPWL Trying to Kiss the Sun reviews


Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by Dan Bobrowski
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars RPWL started out as a Pink Floyd cover band, that is why they carry their David Gilmour colorings so heavy upon their sleeves. Yogi Lange has the Gilmour tone to his voice and guitarist Wallner gets a more then passing nod to Gilmour's signature sound. On top of that, they write some good tunes. Songs that get stuck in your head and are easy to sing along with, not unlike PF themselves.

Great mix of Pink floyd, Radiohead, Porcupine Tree and Beatles. This is music that sounds great on many different formats, such as; car stereo,pc, home unit, boom box.... Each format offers a different perspective.

RPWL is also purported to be a great live band. I hope to find that out first hand someday.

Review by Hibou
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars The fact that this band originally did PINK FLOYD covers is obvious from the opening notes. Yet, "Trying to Kiss the Sun" is highly enjoyable - fluffy, but thoroughly enjoyable. All tracks have a bluesy floydian feel to them and feature some solid rock riffs ā la David Gilmour; moreover, both the production and the musicianship are impeccable. Among the more likeable tracks are "Waiting for a Smile", a slow piece reminiscent of "Hey You" but played in a major key. "Sugar for the Ape" reminds me of the Beatles' rougher material on "Let It Be". And "Sunday Morning", which is almost a clone of the FLOYD's "Us and Them", is quite cool. The one that really got my attention, however, is "Tell Me Why". It is as simple a pop tune as you'll ever hear and yet, it gets into an absolutely infectious groove that's enough to drive you nuts (in the most positive sense!). The album ends with a terrific track, "Home Again", a slow builder with a gut-wrenching bluesy guitar solo.

In a way, I find "Trying to Kiss the Sun" much more uplifting than any PINK FLOYD album, no doubt because it is totally devoid of Roger Waters' fatalistic pessimism. It's fun music, but can barely called prog; as a result, the CD has a rather short shelf life. But hey: no one ever said you can't have cotton candy for dinner once in a while. Nice fluff, really!

Review by Muzikman
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Acknowledging your influences is both intelligent and commendable; it's a sign of maturity and growth, personally and as a band. RPWL is aware of the comparisons to PINK FLOYD, and they embrace that entirely. Lead singer Yogi Lang sounds like David Gilmour and Roger Waters combined with a distinctive foreign accent, and that is an advantage as far as I can see. Their sound is for the most part a mellowed out prog-rock with introspective lyrical content featuring intricate and continually developing melodic transitions in every song. Music like this has a tendency to grow on you even if you aren't a prog-rock enthusiast. It is music that could without difficulty cross over to top-forty radio while maintaining a strong position with the more advanced and selective progressive rock audience.

You are not going to hear layered soundscapes with thundering guitars, this is all has nice flow to it, dare I say ... a pop around the fringes sound. Although this group is surely talented enough to go any direction that they chose, I do believe that they will continue to evolve and become more interesting to listen to as time passes. There are some fiery guitar passages in "Sugar For The Ape" and "Tell Me Why" that are impressive, and reminiscent of some of the runs you would hear on a Marillion album.

All and all this is a very good album with many redeeming qualities. I would keep on eye on this group, their limitations are few, and they should have more solid work to offer their listeners such as this once they get back in the studio for their next project. I look forward to hearing more soon.

Review by Gatot
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Who Say Prog Must Be Complex'n'Heavy?

Yeah! This album is probably the best answer for the above question. All compositions in this album are relatively simple and light. For sure this is not a typical example of prog in the seventies, all tracks are easy to digest and accessible to most people. It does not mean that the music is far from any influence. I think, RPWL (Risettion Postl Wallner Lung ) music has been heavily influenced by The Beatles, Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree. Or simply put, it has its roots in Pink Floyd sound as Porcupine Tree is influenced by Pink Floyd. In precise terms, RPWL has taken Pink Floyd and Porcupine Tree approach in putting sound as key element in their composition. To qualify this, an excellent sonic production of the album is deemed required and the band has successfully fulfilled this requirement in an excellent way. The other element of Floyd's music that RPWL has adopted is the psychedelic nature of its composition. I can smell this nuance from the beginning track until the concluding one - all of them have a psychedelic nuance. Having this in mind, this album would - I think - favor Radiohead or Cold Play fans.

The only thing that RPWL has not taken into consideration when adopting Pink Floyd music is the Gilmourish style in guitar playing.There are some similarities in some tracks but it's not a lot. Probably, if the band is willing to do so in the future release, they should hire Arena's guitarist John Mitchell that has a great talent in emulating Gilmour style especially in the ARENA's groundbreaking album "The Visitor". It's gonna be great, I think. For the time being, let's just focus on what we have at hands now.

This second album represents a major leap from their weak debut album "God Has Failed". (Well, it's not a wise album title at all especially for those who believe God, including me, in which they will NEVER have any thought at all of blaming God. But it's not for this ridiculous album title that has made me say that the debut was weak; you can read my comments about the debut album in this site as well). I forced myself to enjoy this album through a loan from my prog mate's CD. To my surprise, the band has improved a lot.

The album opener titled the same with album title Trying To Kiss The Sun starts with an eastern music percussions that reminds me to Indian music (it's something that has been used widely by many bands before, including the Beatles, Kula Shaker). The music flows in upbeat tempo with ambient mood with some flavor of woodwinds / bamboo instruments that help color the music. It continues with 2. Waiting For a Smile with simple and nice guitar fills that accompany the Floydian voice line in mellow tempo, low register notes with some repeated echoes at the end of lyrical verse. The music flows nicely with minimum variations between low and high points. The keyboard solo during interlude reminds me to Genesis music; performed in a very slow tempo augmented with an excellent howling guitar. This part is best listened to with a decent hi-fi system in high volume of power amplifier. It does have an excellent sonic quality and beautiful sound! The simple guitar fills played in alternate with long sustain keyboard sound has enriched the textures of the song.

The third track I Donīt Know What itīs Like starts off with an exploration of sitar work followed with a voce line in psychedelic style. It reminds me to The Beatles music combined with Pink Floyd early albums. Simple inclusion of guitar and sitar sounds has accentuated the richness of the song's arrangements.

Sugar For the Ape begins with a simple music loop followed with an excellent distant vocal singing style with some augmentation of lead guitar that produces a classic rock guitar riffs. Some rhythm section of this song at the beginning reminds me to Porcupine Tree's Four Chords That Have Made a Million from the Light Bulb Sun album. I hope this was accidental in nature. The musical forms suddenly change to other style when the lyrical part says "Uh .. send me an angel .." - it's a great change. This is probably the track where the guitar solo demonstrates a similar style of Gilmour.

Side By Side is I think too long in duration, especially at the intro part as it has a boring melody that's been repeated. However, this track offers an excellent sound during interlude where a simple acoustic guitar fills are augmented by percussion, bird sounds as well as keyboard effects. There is also nice female chanting during this part. It's time to turn your power amps volume high and you can fly with this kind of music.

The sixth track You begins with a low register notes vocal line accompanied with a simple guitar fills and inventive bass pattern. The music turns in crescendo with some guitar work and brings the vocal into a higher register note. The keyboard solo in alternate with guitar solo at the end of the track are stunning.

Tell Me Why reminds me to the nuance of Pink Floyd's Obscured By Clouds album; the song flows gradually from quiet opening into high register notes at the end of the track. It continues in similar vein to Believe Me which has a simple sitar solo in the middle of the track.. I start to get bored with the music when I reach this 8th track as I don's see any major leap in terms of styles or variations. The next track Sunday Morning still have similar style and very little variations of high and low points.

The concluding track Home Again is the longest track on this album, it consumes 8:52 minutes duration. It starts off with a sound exploration followed with a music in ambient sound that accompany a voice line. The long sustain guitar solo performed in between lyrical verses has made this track enjoyable. It's like Gilmour in Pink Floyd but it's performed softer. This track is well positioned to end the album. An excellent track.

Overall, it's a good album to enjoy even though, I think, it might not favor a wider audience of prog lovers. For me personally, I enjoy this album very much especially when I want to play the music loud at home or in a car. The "sound" is really excellent. The only challenge posed on me is the fact that I cannot bear to enjoy the music in its entirety as I get bored when it reaches track 7 or 8. Probably, the band should make an LP size music (45 minuter) to prevent listeners from getting bored. I think this album deserves three stars with a possibility to grow into four stars domain in the future. But I think it's too naïve to give it a four stars right now. Keep on proGGin' ..!!!

Yours progressively,

GW

Review by chessman
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars This is an excellent album, inspired by this band's heroes, Pink Floyd. You can tell straight away that these handle that type of material very well, they were, after all, a Floyd cover band at one time! But this stands up well in its own right. The shortest song on the cd is the first song, the mid-paced title track itself. This band capture the listener right away, as the song is very catchy, whilst the chorus is dominated by a superb guitar riff. Good stuff! "Waiting For A Smile" is another fine tune, a longer, slower one this time, which has a nice, gentle instrumental section almost reminiscent of Genesis in parts. Again, good stuff. "I Don't Know (What It's Like) is shorter, slow to mid-paced, with, again, a catchy tune. "Sugar For The Ape" is a little different. It reminds me, in the first half, of Hendrix slightly. The chorus then kicks in, and brings back a sound more identifiable with RPWL. Excellent. "Side By Side" is another long 'un! Very gentle, with good melody, whilst the second half is a very quiet instrumental, almost ethereal in style. "You" is one of the highlights for me. This is very influenced by Floyd, with excellent verse, building to a memorable chorus. I love this one. "Tell Me Why" is another mid-paced effort, and, again, catchy. This band certainly know how to right solid yet interesting tunes! "Believe Me" is a little slower, with, yes, another catchy verse and chorus. "Sunday Morning" is wonderful. Another Floyd-inspired effort, it would fit in quite nicely on side one of "Meddle" Finally comes my favourite track, the superb "Home Again". This is, without a doubt, the track most influenced by Floyd. Atmospheric, well crafted, haunting, and eminently repeatable, it is also the longest song on the album. And, it has something you don't very often get on this cd, a brilliantly understated Gimlouresque solo from Karlheinz Wallner. This cd oozes class, and whilst some Floyd fans would deride it as derivative, I would say to others, buy and enjoy. It deserves its place in a Floyd fan's collection. Not quite 5 stars, but not far off it. If Floyd had never existed, this would be a masterpiece. 4.75 on the richter scale!
Review by Mellotron Storm
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars 3.5 stars. This record stresses catchy melodies, along with some great keyboard passages.

Opening with the self titled song "Trying To Kiss The Sun" there is an Eastern flavour to the intro that quickly fades and we are treated to an upbeat, catchy tune. "Waiting For A Smile" is one of my favourites, a mellow song with an extended instrumental passage that consists of some beautiful keyboard solos. "I Don't Know" opens with some sitar playing, and is more of a pop sounding tune. "Sugar For The Ape" is a heavier song, featuring some good riffs and guitar solos.The chorus is kind of dreamy and spacey, it's great. The song closes with a piano melody

."Side By Side" features acoustic guitar, synths, keyboards and the birds are singing, everybody is happy ! "You" is a good ballad with lots of keyboards." Tell Me Why" is catchy while "Believe Me" is a distorted, semi-power ballad. "Sunday Morning" is a good lazy, relaxed, vocal driven tune. "Home Again" is easily the best song on the record. What a chorus ! This is an emotional dreamy, beautiful song with some outstanding soaring guitar solos. I could listen to this over and over and over, well I guess you get the picture.

There are four songs on this record that don't do a lot for me, but there certainly is enough good material here to recommend it.

Review by ZowieZiggy
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars The first album from this band caused some trouble in the PA community. Such a derivative "Floyd" work was intolerable. IMO, there are so many bands who are taking their sources in "Genesis" like IQ, The Watch, Puppet Show etc. Why not from "Floyd" ?

This album will diversify a bit. On top of "Floyd" we'll get several "Porcupine Tree" like ones as well. Not from their early repertoire of course; more in-line with their poppier one. Songs as "Sugar for the Ape" (a bit harder than most of the other songs), "Tell Me Why" or "Believe Me" are very close. Soft and mellow. Pleasant but not great.

This is the major reproach for this album. It holds a bunch of mellowish songs, with nice vocal melodies of course but lacking some "nerves" like "Waiting For A Smile". The opener "Trying To Kiss The Sun" being really a (good) pop-rock song. Good beat and catchy melody.

Songs also look like too much the same and "I Don't Know (What It's Like)" is not going to break this guideline. There will be also the very average and pastoral "Side By Side" which could have been avoided. The next one "You" also belongs to the weak songs from this album.

The one and only truely great piece of music is the closing "Home Again". Fully in-line with their debut album and their Floydian style. I can't help. It is within this style that I prefer the band to play. Wonderful chorus and fantastic guitar solo. A masterpiece.

Three stars. A good album.

Review by Prog Leviathan
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars An often enjoyable collection of songs which, Floydian inspiration withstanding, manage to catch the listener with solid, mature hard- rock melodies and a hefty helping of lush ballads.

The title track opener is easily the strongest track, with a big guitar introduction and catchy melody that begs to be sung-along to. Lang's vocals are strong throughout, and have just a touch of his German accent to give it a unique tone. Those seeking anything especially complex will be disappointed by the bands usually sappy lyrical content and lack of instrumental creativity; however, the lush arrangements and generally enjoyable sound of the almost pop tunes will please fans seeking a fun listen akin to early Hogarth era Marillion-- a sort of radio-friendly set of songs with artsy inklings. I recommend getting World Through My Eyes first, then picking this one up if that one hit you right.

Songwriting: 2 Instrumental Performances: 3 Lyrics/Vocals: 3 Style/Emotion/Replay: 3

Review by Marty McFly
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars Maybe Pink Floyd influence (but only influence, not clone), but for example Sugar For Ape doesn't even like influenced by PF, right ? It sounds like some grunge song. Anyway, if PF infl, then it's post-Waters as some may wonder. And maybe more like David Gilmour solo work (On a Island anyone?). Because in contrast to Pink Floyd work, this sounds like pop. But that's my point, we can't compare everything with PF, right ? I already managed to fill this review with Floyd references, so let's return to the music. As I said in previous one (first album), many facts and emotions still are in place. However, this album sounds more experimental, with distinct synth elements, trying to find some way to "improve", or boost their sound. Simply, experimenting.

4(-), slightly worse than their debut album, but I'm not much sure why. I feel it, that's important for me. For you, dear readers, I can only tell you my opinion, throw in some facts to wrap these feelings and let you decide.

Review by kev rowland
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Reviewer
4 stars RPWL's debut release, 'God Has Failed' created quite a storm when it was released eighteen months ago, gaining votes in many prog polls. So the pressure was on when the band came to record their second album, and a desire to move away from many of the Floyd influences that pervaded the debut. But as they have only been together for five years, and initially started life as a Floyd tribute band it is perhaps not surprising that they are still a major influence on the sound.

What has happened on this album is that the band have become more commercially aware and have concentrated on the arrangements. They sound nothing like Jadis but have managed to capture some of the Phil Spector-style prog wall of sound that can be found sometimes with their music. Listening to "I Don't Know (What It's Like)" made me feel that this would be a great single (okay, not for the UK market, but Germany itself perhaps?) with its' repetitive chorus and great hooks. Contrast that to the almost blues-oriented "Sugar For The Ape" which is much harder with the guitar at the forefront, although there is a Sixties psych section that just serves to drive home the dynamic contrast. This in particular shows that RPWL are breaking through the musical barriers they found themselves constrained with on the debut.

They created a stir in the prog world with their debut release and this is better. They have already been playing festivals in the States this year, as well as touring Europe and are soon back on the road with co-headliner John Wetton, so this could well be the year when they hit the prog big time.

Originally appeared in Feedback #68, Jun 02

Latest members reviews

3 stars This second album of RPWL is much less of a clone than the first one was. Now, we can only speak of influences, even though strong ones. Production is better, the official inclusion of the keyboardist in the group shows by a reduced emphasis on guitar, and the musical developments in the longe ... (read more)

Report this review (#6429) | Posted by | Saturday, November 20, 2004 | Review Permanlink

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