DANGER WORLD

You know the feeling when your best friend, the one whom you always trusted, suddenly pulls a dagger (OK, I admit, some kind of blade isn't standard part of nowaday's attire) and stabs you in the back ? Well, it's better when it's an enemy and you expected it, but the result is the same. I knew this album won't be up to anything good and, from the look at current reviews, it seems that everyone is overlooking this album, avoiding it as much as they could. The band (or what is left of it) decided to get together again, bring some new blood (ahem), do some mediocre songs and try to get away with it. Guess what, it didn't work. It's not just bad and completely not Prog, it is also almost pain to listen to. Almost, that's why I don't give 1.

At one time Anyone's Daughter were one of the most important prog bands in Germany and although I knew that they had broken up in 1984 I wasn't aware that a version of the band had reformed in 2000. They certainly sound different to how I remember them, which is probably due in large part to Harald Bareth not being involved. They are no longer a prog band, but have moved much more into song-based rock. The vocals are extremely powerful, as are the tunes.

I could imagine John Wetton or Glenn Hughes being very much at home with this album. Some songs have sparse backing, relying on the clear melodic vocals of André Carswell, while others are much more complex and belting. The more I played the album the more I fell in love with it, and the longer it took to get it out of my car. It may be that the band are using the original name to get more publicity but with an album this strong then all I can say is the best of luck to them as an album this good deserves to be heard, through fair means or foul. If you want a great rock album that will certainly never get the kudos it deserves then contact the label at www.tempusfugit.de.

Originally appeared in Feedback #66, Feb 02

Even the replacement of Harald Bareth as lead singer with Andre Carswell could not by itself explain the dramatic shift in the sound of ANYONE'S DAUGHTER as they "reformed" around the year 2000 and released "Danger World". Rather, the material itself betrays a self conscious shift, to a more robust, modern rock more suited to the albeit far greater dynamics of Carswell's voice, with which I find little fault. Matthias Ulmer's keyboards, as in the original lineup, remain dominant and at times recall the original band's complexities, other than the two obvious cases when the band revisits classic songs.

While a few fine tracks emerge, specifically the enthusiastic ballads "Nina" and "I'll Never Walk that Road Again", the proggy "Helios" and the techno pop "No Return", we are also subject to some truly unredeemable material like "Good Gone Bad", "The Glory" and "Wheel of Fortune", which sound like anonymous modern rock with an above average keyboard player. The rest of the original material is mediocre, its lack of conviction magnified by the searing technique and soaring emotion of "Moria" and "Sundance of the Haute Provence", both originally appearing on their self titled second album from 1980. As a side note, I love to hear "sunbathing" correctly pronounced this time around.

From a prog perspective, there really is little to recommend here, and even from a pop or rock perspective, I'm not sold. If you must enter the dangerous world of 21st century ANYONE's DAUGHTER, I suggest doing so via the "Trio Tour" live CD, which includes the best material from this and the follow up disk "Wrong". That's assuming you have already caught up on their classics from the original incarnation.