Fuhrs & Frohling - Ammerland (1978) [Remastered 2010] Re-up

New remastered cd release for this classic german ambient rock album booklet with restored artwork, photos & liner notes Reviews in "UNCUT”, "MOJO”, "RECORD COLLECTOR” & "CLASSIC ROCK” MAGAZINES Coverage on relevant websites & fanzines ESOTERIC RECORDINGS continue the launch of their REACTIVE imprint in April 2010 with the first ever UK CD release of the stunning instrumental album "Ammerland” by FUHRS and FROHLING. Keyboard player GERD FUHRS and guitarist HEINZ FROHLING were two thirds of the trio SCHICKE, FUHRS & FROHLING (SFF), whose first two albums are also released by REACTIVE this month. With the demise of SFF, Gerd Fuhrs expanded the musical focus of the duo to great effect utilising Synthesisers, Mellotron and Grand Piano to great effect, complimenting Heinz Frohling's versatile guitar playing perfectly. Dominated by the gorgeous "Every Land Tells a Story”, "Ammerland” is the equal of the finest ambient progressive music and its release as a re-mastered CD is long overdue. The REACTIVE reissue includes liner notes by Heinz Frohling.

Ammerland , Strings , Diary Two-thirds of Schicke Führs and Fröhling: guitarist Heinz Fröhling and keyboardist Gerhard Führs, continuing on without the aid of drummer Eduard Schicke, who departed to join Hoelderlin. As a result, the music is sapped of its rock power, but does have moments of majesty that make these albums worthwhile. Ammerland is hampered by a few Fröhling compositions on side one, which were obviously written as solo acoustic guitar pieces, yet were awkwardly arranged to accomodate Führs synths and mellotron. But the other songs are pleasant enough in a Gordon Giltrap sort of way, and the B-side is simply beautiful. The 13-minute "Every Land Tells A Story" is a marvel of acoustic and light electric guitars, piano, synths galore and impressionistic sound-effects (most dramatically, a Moog thunderclap about 3/4 of the way through). The closing song, "Ammernoon," is an uncommonly dark and eerie number with droning synths and mellotron a la Heldon, with a ian use of a taped recording of a man's crying voice. Strange. Strings finds the band adding drums (some played by Führs, some played by guest Detlev Wiedeke) and using much more electric guitar. They also seem to be spreading themselves a bit thin, trying to cover rock, prog, neo-classical, jazz, disco (Gack!), reggae and new-age all in the space of one 35-minute album. Still, there are some songs that stick with you, especially Führs' beautiful synth piece "Open Valley." "Dancing Colours" has some very nice acoustic soloing from Fröhling. In spite of the use of some rinky-dink electronic drums on a few songs, Diary manages to be more cohesive than its predecessor. "All Through The Night" even allows Fröhling to play his acoustic guitar…ALONE! with no intrusive synth interjections from Führs. "All Hallows' Eve Dream," the haunting "Mind Games" and Führs' "China Puppet" are all beautiful songs with lovely melodies. "Back And Again" really rocks, reminding of the title song from "Ticket to Everywhere.". – Mike Ohman
Gerd Führs and Heinz Fröhling, keyboards and guitars respectively, started off as a spinoff of SFF. Their music is powerful and full of imagery, largely due to a high level of melodic interplay and fluid dynamics; The lack of drums gives the music an acoustic ethereal feel (although some tracks on Diary do feature drums and are more upbeat). No Vocals. "Every Land Tells A Story," a fourteen minute track from Ammerland, is some of the sweetest music my ears have ever heard!
Fuhrs and Frohling were two of the three members of SFF, who branched out to create 3 releases that carried on the SFF sound. The music is instrumental, and features Frohling's guitars, very melodic, perhaps in the style of Gandalf, etc. over the keyboard washes of mellotron, moog and other such classic weapons of seventies progressive rock. As such, the music is more mellow than other groups of that time, and straddles the edge between instrumental rock and progressive rock. The closest comparison would be to Gandalf or, perhaps, Gordon Giltrap.





Track Listing

01. Ammerland (3:08)
02. Gentle Breeze (5:33)
03. Dance Of The Leaves (2:19)
04. Street Dance (2:32)
05. Sarabande (2:30)
06. Circles Of Love (4:06)
07. Every Land Tells A Story (13:50)
08. Ammernoon (5:04)

Produced by Dieter Dierks

Personnel

• Heinz Fröhling: All Guitars
• Gerd Führs: Moog, Mellotron, Grand Piano, Synthesizer

Notes

℗ 1978 Metronome GmbH
© This remastered edition 2010 Cherry Red Records Ltd., under license from Universal Music Operations Ltd.





Many thanks to the original uploader: tull71