Ikarus - Ikarus FLAC download

Ikarus released their eponymous album in 1971 on legendary ,exploiting-label " + plus +" with label colleagues Wind ,,Seasons" and ,Tomorrows Gift. This short- lived label was established by Jochen Petersen as the progressive division of Miller Records. Jochen Petersen fronted the Hamburg Teutonic progressive rock fusion band Ikarus(so Alan Freeman in ,,Crack In The Cosmic Egg"). Ikarus played a very varied sound with complex arrangements and melancholic melodies inspired by early King Crimson (so Dag Erik Asbjornsen) and Van der Graaf Generator (Alan Freeman) or reminding to German colleages Thirsty Moon and Os Mundi. The original album contains only 4 tracks (from 6 to 15 minutes) but plays over 40 minutes a rather uniquely spacious and dynamic sound, full of surprises. Their lyrics scrutinized the behaviour of mankind with a particular focus on our darker minds.

Obscure one-shot German prog that is highly recommend if you like Van der Graaf Generator and the likes. Saxophone and organ-dominated prog with jazzy overtones. The album was released on the short-lived +plus+ label, ran by Jochen Petersen, who was a member of this band, as well as (later on) Randy Pie. "Eclipse" is the opening cut, played in an unusual meter (typical of jazz, not of rock). The lyrics protest environmental destruction, but the lyrics are so poorly written they make me cringe ("Skyscrapers spread and narrow the nature", "Save the nature/It's a treasure", yikes!). Even their English needs brushing, listen to them say, "Creature" as three syllables ("cre-a-ture"). I guess it's no worse than Frank Bornemann saying "wictim" (that is his pronunciation of "victim") on Eloy's Ocean. On the other hand you can forgive such bad lyrics because the band was likely not that familiar with the English language. Another great German album bogged down by bad lyrics goes to Embryo's Rache. The band opted for real strings instead of a Mellotron. The middle part includes a lengthy organ solo. At least you can't fault the band for "The Raven" as the lyrics were borrowed from Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven", which of course, are a great improvement over "Eclipse". At times that spacy Krautrock influence makes itself known in some of the music, stuff that would be foreign on a VdGG album. Lyrically, this album gets me thinking of Embryo's Rache, another great album marred by poorly written lyrics done by people who barely have a grasp of the English language. Lyrics aside, for those looking for more worthy obscure prog, try this. Unfortunately it's only been reissued once, on Second Battle, so that's probably your only chance to hear this (since the original LP is naturally hard to find as only three titles ever been released on the +plus+ label).Update: It's been recently reissued on Long Hair, so the old Second Battle reissue is no longer your only option to acquire a reissue.