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THE THIRSTY-MOON-STORY
Part 3
In 1974 we got to know Rolf Simson, a studio owner in Bremen, who actually produced shanties, pop songs etc., but was ready to listen to our music as well. He let us use his studio as a rehearsal room, and Norbert was even allowed to take his place at the mixing desk. However, while the first two LPs had been recorded using 16 tracks, we now had to content ourselves with 8 tracks.
My brother and I produced the album “Blitz” in Rolf Simson’s studio in 1974 and played all instruments ourselves. Norbert played the drums and bass, and I played the guitar and the keyboards. At that time there were neither sequencers, nor did we use a “click-track” as basic rhythm. First we recorded the drums and rhythm guitar together. This “basic play back” then served as the foundation and all other instruments were recorded subsequently.
At that time, Ike and Tina Turner once performed in the City Hall of Bremen, and Tina greeted the audience saying “Are you ready for me?” I decided to incorporate this phrase in my composition “Lord of Lightning”, but in a completely different manner. I learned to speak the words backwards, which roughly sounded like: iem roff ider ui rah”, recorded the sentence on tape and then played the recording backwards by manually turning the tape reels back. The result was a completely alienated voice. We also included natural sounds like thunder and rain, and added new instruments- namely the synthesizer and Solina String-ensemble. Later on, during live acts, we added these sounds by tape along with the synthesizer sound effects, such as the wind in “Südwind”.
By that time the contract with “Brain” had expired, and since we didn’t want to publish our new LP as THIRSTY MOON, we started looking for a new name. Inspired by the flash of lightning as a symbol for electricity, we named the band BLITZ (flash of lightning). However, “Brain” was not interested, and other record companies declined as well. We then got together with other musicians to record new demos, again as THIRSTY MOON, and presented the recordings to “Brain”. The new label manager, who had been in charge since 1975, eventually agreed to publish “Blitz” in the original, as recorded by Norbert and me, but under the band name THIRSTY MOON. The publication turned out to be successful, and we got a new record contract with “Brain”. “Blitz” was even pressed in Australia with an official licence, and was published there on the label “Clear Light Of Jupiter.” The bonus track “Clouds” was an outtake from our recording session for “Blitz”, which the record company did not want to incorporate in the album.
In 1977 we recorded our live single “I’ll sing your song” /”Caught” in the gulf house in Vechta using a borrowed 4-track tape recorder. It was published on Simson’s label “Boccaccio”. At that time the line-up of the band consisted of Uli Harmssen (keyboards), Junior Weerasinghe (drums, vocals), Norbert Drogies (bass) and Jürgen Drogies (guitar, vocals). Junior was a jolly , fun-loving musician from Sri Lanka, who also played with us on our album “A real good time”, published in 1976 on Brain, and partly on “Starchaser” (Sky Records 1981).
Jürgen Drogies, October 2006
Expert music critics had problems reviewing the album, since the sound of “Blitz” was so different from the first two albums. Also, the missing saxophone suggested that the band had turned away from the jazz elements often used in earlier times, and had taken the direction of rock elements. For the first time there were no vocals, but a synthesizer was used. The Sounds’ critic (Sounds 4/76) grumbled: “A rock stew made in Germany, prepared with all kinds of things – starting with the WHO-arrangement, then the Stones-riff and even a Bo Hansson-sound. Cheeky fellows, those boys! Hope they won’t be struck by lightning. And please, folks, play less wooden next time, a little bit more elegance would go a long way in making it more enjoyable.” In their book “The Crack in The Cosmic Egg”, the brothers Steven and Allan Freeman were more favourable in their criticism and described Blitz as an album of instrumental rock mostly based on guitars and varied drum play. Their opinion was that, in spite of its somewhat commercial orientation, the LP still contained many unmistakable elements typical of Thirsty Moon.
In the “Gibraltar-Encyclopedia” for progressive rock, Mike Ohman wrote:” It is an interesting album, like most albums published on Brain, but by no means an essential one. Instrumental rock music that mainly focuses on the guitars and percussion. ‘Lord of Lightning’ is definitely a hard rock title, with slamming guitars and electrically amplified cembalo. ‘Rainbow’ is a very exciting, half improvised title in 9/4 time, with captivating guitar play, hissing cymbals and atonal organ somehow reminiscent of Softmachine Vol. 2. ‘The jungle of your mind’ begins with a fascinating rhythm alternating between 8/4 and 7/4 time that eventually turns into a long percussion part. ‘Magic Moon’ reminds one of the half electronic music in the style of Führs and Fröhling, while ‘Crickets Don’t Cry’ contains reggae elements.” The quick info of the metronome media service on the publication of the album has the following information: Lightning is a natural phenomenon and as such an elementary human experience. The symbol for lightning can be found in old scriptures, runes and prehistoric paintings. Lightning triggers emotions, it signifies power, force, strength – but also fear and the feeling of being at the mercy of nature. Lightning captured and controlled by man is electricity. We all know the red flash on yellow background – the sign warning of high voltage. Electricity enables man to use electrically amplified instruments, electronic instruments, synthesizers etc.
Although this LP isn’t “programme music” and does not tell a continuous “story”, the individual pieces are linked to each other in some way, both from the musical point of view, and with regard to the titles. Emotions are built up, increased, changed, destroyed.... It is not a ready-made “radio drama”, but conveys impressions which enable the audience to associate their own “story”.
At that time Jürgen Drogies commented as follows:” The group’s first two LPs contain rock- and jazz elements. However, these were not continually merged, but deliberately used as a contrast. At the time of the second LP the music increasingly turned towards introverted jazz. On the third LP ‘Blitz’, the rock elements were again more emphasized. The synthesizer took the place of the saxophone and opened up a new, electronic dimension.” The changed sound of the band becomes quite obvious on “Blitz”. Although the music of the album had been entirely composed, recorded and produced by the duo Jürgen and Norbert Drogies, there is no loss of quality when compared to the first two albums that had been produced by others and performed by a group of people. However, since the music has a different orientation, it does not make sense to compare this album to the first two albums of the band. Besides, the Drogies brothers were quite aware that they would not be able to promote the album live on their own. Once the album had been published in early 1975, they started looking for co-musicians, and in spring 1975 they appeared live again together with keyboarder and vocalist Gert Lueken as well as bassist Heinz Sander. On May 29th, 1975, they gave a concert in the scene club “Lila Eule” in Bremen, which was recorded live and is published for the first time on Long Hair (LHC 55, Thirsty Moon “I’ll be back” Live’75). Jürgen Drogies tells the story of this Thirsty Moon line-up, the circumstances of the live recording as well as the programme of the concert in the booklet of part 4 of the Thirsty-Moon Story just published on CD.
Manfred Steinheuer, October 2006
Translation: Dr. Martina Häusler
For further information we recommend the following websites:
www.thirstymoon.de
www.backtothemoon.de
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