WANIYETULA

This is generally accessible prog with decent and frequent vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, and plenty of vintage keyboards. I'm reminded of the usual suspects, but also of GRACIOUS, NEKTAR, GROBSCHNITT, and even a few American bands of that time that I can't quite discern. While I'm obviously not a big fan, this is well played with a fair share of pleasant passages, but which are rarely dynamic or lasting in their impact. Similarly, the lyrics are not particularly strong but also not embarrassing. By far my favorite track is "Dreams out in the Rain", with everything you might want in a 6 minute prog song, from a fine melody to exquisite vocal harmonies and keyboards including mellotron flute.

In the universe of 1970s prog rock, "Nature's Clear Well" is obscure for reasons that have nothing to do with its contents, but even if it were better known to more of us, I doubt it would merit more than a tiny-fonted footnote. The band went on to release a slightly better album in the early 1980s under their original name. 2.5 stars rounded down.

In 1971 the trio had a good live activity and the track ''Lindis Farne'', which opens the album, is a good proof of their very early sound.This is typical but quite cliche instrumental Hard/Psych/Kraut Rock with jamming and improvisation elements, based on Kühne's long and repetitive guitar sections and a psychedelic rhythm section with little imagination.

By 1974 the band featured two more members, singer/acoustic guitarist Richard Kersten and keyboardist Norbert Abels.The addition of Kersten, which became also the band's main composer, resulted to a change of name, now Wanyietula were Galaxy, and musical direction.This period is represented with four long tracks, between 10 and 13 minutes, where keyboards and melody play also a significant role in Wanyietula's sound.Their style now was somewhere between ELOY, NEKTAR and MESSAGE, sounding more like an English than a German band.Nice psychedelic guitars are blended with expressive vocals and interesting moog solos to result an approach with elements from both Psychedelic Rock and 70's Classic Prog styles.Instrumental parts are still a great part of the band's music with a bit loose arrangements.

As Galaxy they released only one album (shortly after which Kersten left the band) and then the crew switched the name back to the original Wanyietula.However the band never returned to the early Wanyietula style, on the opposite we are talking about 1978 here and the second Wanyietula formation had fully transmitted into a late-70's Symphonic Rock band.Two tracks from this period are great examples of this fact.Very close to the likes of ANYONE'S DAUGHER or AMENOPHIS, Wanyietula's music was now very refined with emotional arrangements full of interesting guitar melodies and synth explorations, while the band used the multi-vocal harmonies and distorted vocal lines more and more.The presence of the some piano inteludes is also another new enrty, yet the sound remained fairly progressive and quite adventurous.

This album holds both significant historical and musical interest.A rather unknown band is fully presented here from their very early stage and sound to its transformation into a Melodic Prog act, most of the tracks are satisfying and there is also a very nice booklet with the history of the band along with rare photos of the members, making ''Iron city'' at least a recommended purchase, especially for fans of non-standard German Kraut/Prog with a flexible sound.

So despite all the confusion, and the relative obscurity of the band, this is an excellent record. The lyrics are introspective, and are apparently supposed to represent an other-worldly view of earth through the eyes of visitors from afar. Kind of similar to the perspective of Klaatu’s ‘Hope’ album, or the Kansas tune “Nobody’s Home”. You know, the world is full of a bunch of self-destructive humans who would do well to look to the skies for inspiration and a better way of living. Pretty cheesy and idealistic, especially for 1978, although if I’m not mistaken this was actually recorded in 1976 but not released until ’78.

But anyway, the music is quite good, melodic with lots of funky guitars, mellow keyboards, and harmonic vocals. And speaking of the vocals, these guys don’t sound German at all. In fact, lead singer Richard Kersten starts off the album sounding an awful lot like Parallel or 90 Degrees & the Tangent vocalist Andy Tillison, and ends up coming off as a slightly jazzy Rupert Holmes (remember ‘The Piña Colada Song’?). And the rest of the band does a pretty fair job of parroting the rest of the Tangent on most of the backing vocals as well. Well, parroting isn’t quite the right word since this album predates any Tangent album by more than a decade. But you get the point.

The keyboards are quite good for the time period, and are a perfect example of the neo symphonic resurgence that peaked a couple years before this was released. The album had virtually no promotion that I can remember, and ended up almost immediately in the cutout bins when it was imported to America. It has since been released on CD, but still isn’t exactly well-known.

The title track is the best on the album, and like I said it sounds very much like a good Tangent album – mellow vocals, intricate and vibrant keyboards and piano, jazzy guitars (including a lot of acoustic guitar), and a varied tempo that makes the track seem even longer and more epic-like than its eleven minutes.

The rest of the album is in much the same vein, with the exceptions of “Dreams out in The Rain” which has an Alan Parsons Project feel to it; “I've Come from a World” which sounds like it was recorded apart from the rest of the album and has a latter-seventies borderline arena-rock anthem groove; and the closing “Wish I Were Happy”, which was clearly written to be performed at the end of a live concert (acoustic guitar strumming, string synths, and a jam session ending.

This is a very good album, as I said at the beginning. It was poorly promoted, badly positioned by the band’s label, and just generally not given a chance to be successful. The band would end up putting out an album under their real name several years later, and a couple decades after they broke up Garden of Delights (God bless those guys!) put out a compilation of early recordings, including “You Really Got it Fixed” and “Wish I Were Happy” from this album. Neither of those recordings has the feel of understated grace that this one has though, so if you have to choose, get this one. Four stars.

peace