OUT IN THE DARK |(NL+ E)

Het jaar 1981: de cd bestond nog niet en van downloads en streaming had nog nooit iemand gehoord. Ik studeerde in die tijd in Utrecht en daar waren een stuk of tien platenzaken. Op een goed moment struinde ik een nieuwe zaak binnen met alleen prettig geprijsde lp’s. Ik snuffelde in de hoezen die mij aanspraken, en ik vond zowaar Heart To Heart van Pete Bardens (Camel). Verder stuitte ik op een intrigerend hoesje, dat achteraf ontworpen bleek te zijn door bassist Urs Hochuli van de voor mij onbekende band Flame Dream uit Zwitserland. De bezetting leek te passen bij mijn speurtocht naar nieuwe symfobands. In de zaak kon ik de lp niet beluisteren, dus ik nam de gok en kocht de lp. In mijn studentenkamertje zette ik Out In The Dark op en ik werd zeer aangenaam verrast! In de loop der tijd en met hulp van een oude schoolvriendin die in Zwitserland woont, kreeg ik uiteindelijk alle lp’s te pakken met uitzondering van de toen al op cd verschenen plaat 8 On 6 uit 1986. Na bijna 45 jaar brengt de band nu zelf de eerste officiële heruitgave op cd uit, want de bestaande cd’s op het Tachika-label zijn illegaal! Out In The Dark is waarschijnlijk hun meest succesvolle album, dat evenals de overige albums destijds niet is opgepikt door Sym-Info, de voorloper van SI-Magazine dat later overging in iO Pages, dat toen nog maar net bestond. Hoog tijd dus om een bespreking te wijden aan dit prachtige album.

De bezetting is dezelfde als op het in 2024 uitgebrachte album Silent Transition met  als gastmuzikant gitarist Dale Hauskins. De vijf tracks zijn goed voor zo’n veertig minuten symfo van de bovenste plank. De teksten van vier tracks zijn afkomstig van dichters. Dat geldt niet voor Nocturnal Flight, dat is gepend door de in Dublin geboren Peter Wolf. Het nummer doet qua sfeer erg aan Seven Stones (Nursery Cryme) van Genesis denken of misschien nog meer aan Entangled (A Trick Of The Tail). Mede daardoor is de Engelstalige zang gespeend van accenten en Peters stem is best wel uniek te noemen: vrij lichtvoetig, vrij hoog, maar niet zo hoog en ijl als de stem van Jon Anderson (Yes). In de openingstrack Full Moon hoor je de lekker vet aangezette bas van Urs Hochuli, meerstemmige zang, nog extra benadrukt door de vocoder van toetsenist Roland Ruckstuhl, die meesterlijke keyboardtapijten neerlegt. Ook de van progrock zo karakteristieke tempowisselingen zijn aanwezig. Wolf is hier ook als saxofonist te horen. Het titelstuk begint rustig met basakkoorden, zang en toetsen en vervolgens komen er drums en meer toetsen bij. Hoewel er mogelijk wel invloeden van bands als Genesis en Focus te herkennen zijn, is de toonzetting zeker niet gemakkelijk, maar desondanks ligt de muziek lekker in het gehoor. Halverwege het nummer soleert Ruckstuhl er lustig op los en dit door piano gedomineerde stuk wordt aangevuld met de fluit van Wolf. Wintertime Nights doet nadrukkelijk denken aan de muziek op A Trick Of The Tail, of wellicht ook aan And Then There Were Three, omdat hierop de gitaar ontbreekt en er dus veel ruimte is voor de toetsen. De laatste track is de epic Strange Meeting die ruim zestien minuten duurt. Na een zeer melodieus rustig begin met een buitengewoon fraaie toonzetting, volgen lange, grotendeels instrumentale stukken die soms even aan Gentle Giant doen denken met vooral toetsen en een bescheiden rol voor saxofoon, gitaar en fluit.

English:

It was 1981: the cd didn’t exist at the time, and no-one had ever heard from downloads or streaming. At the time I was studying veterinary medicine in Utrecht and back then Utrecht had at least ten record stores in the centre of the city, so these were all within reach by foot or bicycle. By listening to albums with interesting covers and preferably five-piece formations with drums, bass, guitar, keyboards and vocals. In the mid-seventies I had already discovered bands like Kansas, Eloy, Anyone’s Daughter and Saga and at some point, just across the canal near the concert hall Tivoli/Vredenburg, there was this temporarily opened record shop with only LPs. Unlike the other record stores, you couldn’t listen to the music, so I had to buy the album and try my luck. The prices of these LPs were less than half the prices in the regular stores, so I guess that facilitated the decision to buy an LP just by looking at the cover and the information on it. After finding Heart To Heart, the debut album of Pete Bardens after leaving Camel, I stumbled across an interesting cover by a Swiss band named Flame Dream. Later I found out that bassist Urs Hochuli was responsible for the artwork. The album consisted longer tracks and obviously the main instruments were the keyboards, so always looking for new music in the symphonic and progressive rock genre, I decided to buy it, hoping it would be a lucky guess. In my little student room of about ten square meters, I listened to the album, and I was immediately blown away. Thanks to a friend from school who relocated to Zürich (Switzerland) after leaving school, I was able to obtain all other albums by Flame Dream except for 8 On 6 from1986, because this album was released on cd. After their successful release Silent Transition from 2024, the band have now proudly released their third album on cd for the first time in almost 45 years! The band pointed out to me that the releases on the Tachika label are in fact illegal copies! This third album, Out In The Dark, was probably the most successful album and has never been reviewed on this website, so every reason to highlight this magnificent album!

Swiss band Flame Dream started out in the late seventies as a five-piece formation. Little interest in progressive rock in their own country forced them to do everything themselves: composing, cover-design, management, tour management, instruments. Only for the lyrics they used poems by several poets, until their first self-written text by singer Peter Wolf on this album, their third and probably most successful one. After their come back album Silent Transition from 2024, keyboardist Roland Ruckstuhl had already begun to digitize older recordings so now, finally, after more than forty years the first four albums of this underestimated progressive rock group will be released on cd for the first time.

The line-up on Out In The Dark is the same as on the 2024 album Silent Transition except for the guitarist. On Out In The Dark the guitars are played by Dale Hauskins. Only five tracks on this album with a length of just over 42 minutes indicates at least that some of the tracks must be well over the average duration of a single. Like on both previous two albums the band used lyrics by several renowned poets: Full Moon by Robert Graves, Out In The Dark by Edward Thomas, Wintertime Nights by Thomas Hardy and Strange Meeting by Wilfred Owen. The first lyric written by the band was on Nocturnal Flight by singer Peter Wolf. The first track, Full Moon, is featuring bass player Urs Hochuli with a heavy, deep sounding bass and close harmony singing with an emphasis on Roland Ruckstuhl’s vocoder. This extraordinary keyboardist lays down tasteful layers of orchestrations and superb arrangements, and of course there are several changes in tempo, one of the characteristics of progressive rock.   

Singer Peter Wolf may not be a classically trained singer, but he was born in Dublin (Ireland), so his English is okay and luckily no German or Swiss accent whatsoever. The singing lessons he took and his newly acquired ability to write lyrics proved to be a great asset for the band. In addition, Wolf has a unique voice that could be compared to the voices of the late Max Werner (Kayak) and a little lower version of the voice of Jon Anderson. In this first track Wolf also plays the saxophone. The second track Nocturnal Flight features the lyrics written by Wolf. The melodies in this particular track remind me somewhat of the beautiful mid-tempo song Seven Stones by Genesis (Nursery Cryme, 1971 ) or maybe even more of Entangled from the album A Trick Of The Tail (1976). Anyway, you’ll definitely hear influences from Genesis in the seventies here! Dale Hauskins plays some delightful solos. The title track opens with some bass chords and Wolf’s vocals. Gradually the bass and keyboards join in leading to the chorus which stylistically reminds me of Kayak in the seventies, also because Hauskins plays the guitar like Kayak’s Johan Slager. Wolf can be heard with his flute too in a very nice melancholic intermezzo, followed by an incredibly cool up-tempo part featuring Ruckstuhl’s keyboards, first the synths then the magnificently played (grand)piano. To close off the track, the tempo goes down again and the beautiful chorus can be heard instrumentally, gently fading away with the (grand)piano. Wintertime Nights reminds of Genesis’ A Trick Of The Tail, foremost of the track Robbery, Assault And Battery. Because there’s no guitar on this track perhaps the atmosphere of the music resembles the music on the Genesis album And Then There Were Three (1978) even more! Again, the emphasis on the keyboards and to be honest, that’s perfectly fine by me! The last track is the album’s epic: Strange Meeting with a duration of over sixteen minutes. A very melodic and gentle opening with a challenging but gorgeous tone, is followed by more up-tempo instrumental parts. Wolf plays his saxophone and some of the parts even remind me of Gentle Giant and at some point in a short intermezzo stylistically to Pink Floyd. Mainly keyboards but also a modest role for flute and sax. Drummer Peter Furrer and Hochuli prove to be an excellent foundation yet again. Obviously Ruckstuhl has been influenced by Tony Banks, yet he has developed his own style and should have been considered to belong to the great keyboard players like Tony Banks, Rick Wakeman or Keith Emerson. Really a shame this album wasn’t picked up in the early eighties, but thankfully we get another chance to listen to this wonderful music!