From: pvs9@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de (Praktikum Verteilte Systeme)
Subject: Reviews: Charles Atlas/Shadowland/Jadis/Livit
Originator: pvs9@eris.ibr.cs.tu-bs.de
Reply-To: pvs9@ibr.cs.tu-bs.de (Praktikum Verteilte Systeme)
Organization: TU Braunschweig, Informatik (Bueltenweg), Germany
Date: Mon, 23 Nov 1992 15:33:03 GMT

PREFACE :
=========
All rankings are done on the following scale :

Horrible   []
Poor       [*]
Fair       [**]
Good       [***]
Excellent  [****].

The X to Y notation (e.g. Fair [**] to Excellent [****]) is mainly used if the
work discussed is heterogenous in quality, which is quite often the case.

Charles Atlas :
===============
This is a rather new band from Lemgo, Germany. It was founded in 1989 and
currently consists of :

Stephan Gottwald  - g/voc
Ralf Sander       - g
Hartmut Schmoland - dr
Ralf Sdrenka      - b
Christoph Tapp    - kb/voc

Charles Atlas are a progressive rock band in their starting phase. They don't
meet the standard of groups like Marillion, Rush or Shadowland [see below] yet,
but they are developing rapidly. I witnessed them in April '89 failing to play
Pink Floyd cover versions, but that is long time ago. Today, they play their
own material, and they do it well.
  The last time I heard them playing live was on October 24 at the Haus am
Wall, Lemgo. They played a rather short (about 1.5 hours), but good set. I
don't know which band I should compare their style to, but since they rather
stand at the beginning of their prog.rock carreer, the level of
'progressiveness' of their music varies from medium to high. Their best one
without a doubt is the about 20 minutes long _Exquisit Litte Creature_, a real
prog.rock marvel which I rank Excellent [****], also remarkable is the _Five
Seasons_ suite (ranking Good [***]). The most characteistic point of
their sound is certainly Stephan Gottwald's unique rough, high-pitched voice.
Also remarkable is Ralf Sander's lead guitar style which reminds me especially
at '69-'71 David Gilmour, and Ralf Sdrenka employing the tapping technique (as
used by stick players) on his bass guitar.
  The first album, a concept album titled _Industrial World_ (which will
include _Exquisit Little Creature_, but - as far as I know - not the _Five
Seasons_), is expected to come out in 1993. A cassette tape titled _Five
Reasons_ is already available now. It includes _Five Seasons_ and some
selections from _Industrial World_ (but not _Exquisit Little Creature_) plus a
12-bar blues. Total playing time 49'51". The tape can be obtained at DM 10 plus
mailing costs from the band :

Charles Atlas
c/o Ralf Sander
Hornscher Weg 9
D-W-4920 Lemgo
Germany

Overall Ranking :
-----------------

Live  : Fair [**] to Excellent [****].
Tape  : Fair [**] to Good [***].


Shadowland :
============

A MARVELLOUS british progressive rock band, quite Marillionesque in style. They
have released one album (on CD) yet : _Ring Of Roses_. It contains 7
masterpieces with a total playing time of 58'30", _Hall Of Mirrors_ being both
the longest (14'24") and (together with the instrumental _The Kruhulick
Syndrome_) the best of them.
  I saw them perform during the Lurv Ambassadors To The World Tour at
Schoeppenstedter Turm, Braunschweig (together with Jadis - see below) on
November 17. Their performance was great though Clive Nolan had problems with
his voice which forced the band to shorten their set, dropping _Hall Of
Mirrors_. Except that one, they played all tracks of the album, plus two or
three others.

Overall Ranking :
-----------------

Live  : Excellent [****].
Album : Excellent [****].


Jadis :
=======

Another british prog.rock band, also amongst the best I ever learned to know.
They, too, are strongly influenced by Marillion. Their first album _More Than
Meets The Eye_ is available on CD, total playing time 46'58" containing 7
tracks. The title track and the instrumental _Holding Yor Breath_ are the best
ones.
  I heard them live at the Schoeppenstedter Turm together with Shadowland (see
above). They performed all tracks from the album plus another instrumental
titled _View From Above_ and a cover version of a Queen song (I can't remember
the title now). Their live performance was even better than the CD (_View From
Above_ was the best of all their stuff).

Overall Ranking :
-----------------

Live  : Excellent [****].
Album : Good [***] to Excellent [****].


Livit :
=======

This one is the worst of all bands discussed here ! Actually, they don't belong
into this newsgroup at all. Following their announcement as a progressive rock
band influenced by Saga/Rush/Marillion, I came to their CD release party at
Schlucklum, Lucklum (ca. 12 km southeast of Braunschweig) on November 21. But
it was all a waste. The announcement proved entirely wrong. Their music is not
progressive at all, they are just a plain heavy metal band ! Honesty is a
virtue of rock music, but those guys proved dishonest. If their show turned out
to be a playback fake show, it would not surprise me.
I set my course home before the show was over.

Forget it ! Those guys have made their way into my killfile.

Overall Ranking :
-----------------

Live  : If considered as what they are, they rank Fair [**] to Good [***].
        But they claim themselves a prog.rock band, thus they ought to be
        ranked as Poor [*].

Album : Didn't buy it, didn't hear it.

May the SCHWARTZ be with you... Joerg Rhiemeier.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I'm blowing a whistle for the right to find out the truth." - Shadowland,
                                                             The Whistleblower
Newsgroups: alt.music.progressive