NEUE STERNE

The last complete studio album done by the original line up of this great german band found them in their most commercial path since their inception. but this is far from bad or opportunistic music. In fact they actually produced quite a fine mix of pop and prog and the fact that they were not successful is not related to the quality of their songs. While a lot of other prog acts actually released terrible records trying to survive the late 70´s and early 80´s scene, Anyone´s Daughter bravely fought far longer than most. And when they finally gave in to the mounting pressures, the result was also better than most.

It would be a lot easier for them to sing these tunes in english if they really wanted to win an international audience. But I guess it was not their aim after all. All the music here is tasteful, elegant and very well done. Songs like Der Plan and the title track (the most commercial oriented on the entire album) could have been fine top ten hits. Sadly the whole thing didn´t work out as expected. Anyone´s Daughter would break up soon after and when they came back in the new millenium they were only a shadow of their former self.

Still the music of Neue Sterne stands. I particularly loved the last four instrumental tracks, all showing their skillfullness and fine songwriting abilities. I was glad to see that there were no fillers. The CD also has a good production. It was only a pity that they never got the recognition and exposure they really deserved. But before they left the music scene they released a string of fine prog albums in a time such things were so hard to find.