ADONIS

Hailing from the German city of Stuttgart, symphonic-rock outfit Anyone's Daughter appeared pretty late in the day for a full-blown progressive rock act, their debut release 'Adonis' not issued until 1979. However, despite this, the group had, by 1986, shifted almost two-hundred thousand records in their homeland alone, a phenomenal amount for an unfashionable group playing complex music at a time when punk and new wave were beginning to dominate. Of course, by the time the 1980s had come round Anyone's Daughter had begun to soften their style, whilst later albums, unlike 'Adonis' would be sung entirely in their native German tongue. A concept album-of-sorts, 'Adonis' is a thickly-symphonic beast filled with carefully-crafted neo-classical passages adorned with wailing guitars and melodic keyboards. Atmospheric sound effects are also used to flesh out group's sound, the overall effect not unlike that of fellow teutonic outfit Grobschnitt, only Anyone's Daughter sound is softer, less manic and without that band's wild sense of crazy - and sometimes rather silly - humour. The strongest moments on 'Adonis' are found on their four-part title-track song-suite that opens the album, the group's trademark warm, glistening synthesizers and multi-layered keyboards producing a slow- burning sound that rarely takes flight for long. This is careful, studied progressive rock with the emphasis very much on careful instrumentation, and at times the blend proves rather beautiful. However, whereas Grobschnitt's fantasy-tinged prog would be spiked with powerful solo's and quickfire interplay, Anyone's Daugher by comparison seems slow, occasionally bordering on the tedious. The rest of the album never quite catches fire, thus the end result proves attractive yet ultimately frustrating. Some have likened Anyone's Daughter to such British prog luminaries as Genesis and Yes, yet that is probably to high an appraisal. 'Adonis' is a tasteful and fairly creative slice of ethereal symphonic prog, though sadly it fails too often to set the pulse racing. Interesting then, and not without it's merits, but hardly a classic of the genre.

STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2012