Novalis ~ Germany

Sommerabend (1976)

Recently I finally penetrated the debut Banished Bridge, capturing a drifty Krautrock vibe that I had missed prior. And the second album is the one I'd always held in the highest esteem (another one I need to revisit). As the years go by, I value melodic songwriting more and more, and that's right in the wheelhouse of this era of Novalis. So with all of that as background context, and the fact Sommerabend is typically rated the highest by fans, I figured this would be the listen where the album opened up for me in a big way.

Nope. In fact it took a step back. But at first I was highly engaged. The instrumental 'Aufbruch' is exactly what I was expecting, with memorable melody lines, and creative breaks. It is on 'Wunderschätze' that the albums begins to break down. At first, my positive bias carried it through. But a second listen had me realizing where the problem lies. And that's because the side longer title track doesn't hold up as well, and reveals this material weakness. Now I'm not suggesting it isn't any good - of course it maintains that melodic and spacey vibe Novalis is known for - but it gets a bit... dull on occasion. Whereas Banished Bridge maintains this Dom like downer mysterious vibe, Sommerabend just sounds mopey dopey at times. Perhaps the band is too sober by 1976. It's more like same era Eloy / Pink Floyd verse the more sprightly sound that Novalis seems to have patented, and exploited more on their sophomore effort.

Ownership: 1976 Brain (LP). Green label

12//93 (acquired); 1996; 6/3/13; 10/11/17 (review)

Banished Bridge (1973)

Novalis' debut has taken me a long while to digest. When I think of Novalis, I think of a band that is highly melodic, polished, superbly arranged, with sparse vocals in German. Banished Bridge is none of those things. Novalis' debut has about as much in common with the rest of their output as does Eela Craig, Scorpions, and Eloy's opening moves. I've often read that Banished Bridge sounds like early King Crimson, or even other more established UK prog bands of the era. I don't hear it myself. Maybe Wenzel occasionally sounds like Greg Lake, but with a thick German accent.

Still, what is it that we have here? I've owned this album in one form or another since the late 1980s and I couldn't tell you. Time to figure it out.

It's the title track that really throws one off the scent. So finally I decided to listen to Side 2 first. On these three tracks we have a fairly typical organ based Krautrock sound, very much what you would expect to hear in 1971. So from that angle, Novalis are behind the times, but still pleasant. Solid 3.5 material.

But the title track, this is the secret of the album. Basically it's a symphonic prog version of Dom's Edge of Time. What? Well... there are these long stretches of tranquil / drone trip-out music with mumbling downer vocals in English that do in fact recall a mold infested bridge-to-nowhere in the countryside. Out of the depths of depression rise the organ and synthesizers, which provides the perfect contrast. And so it goes between both styles for its 17 minute duration. Awesome. Had this been side 2 instead, I'm sure this album would be more highly regarded today. It sounds like a side 2 honestly.

Personally I think this album is a lot more "true Krautrock" than ever given credit for. After this, Novalis along with Eloy, pretty much defined the German variation of symphonic progressive rock. Almost the antithesis of the raw Krautrock sound we've been accustomed to.

Ownership: 1973 Brain (LP). Gatefold. Green Brain Metronome.

5/23/89 (acquired); 1997; 3/17/17 (review); 11/9/25

Vielleicht bist du ein Clown? (1978)

Once hearing Vielleicht bist du ein Clown?, you'll realize this is where Novalis has been heading for some time. They were never the most complex and densest of writers, and most of their compositions were rather straightforward. But they had a tendency to drench it heavily in dressing, giving it more of a superficial progressive rock feel. Where Novalis shines is their ability to write beautiful melodies, along with very pleasant instrumentals. So it was only logical the group would eventually trim the tree so to speak, and get down to their core competencies. I'd even argue this is stronger than their last recognized progressive rock album Brandung. Of course, Novalis are now on the slippery slope to commercialism, and have started to become more irrelevant to the average progressive rock fan. But this one is a nice transitional album. Better than most that tried during this era.

Former ownership: 1978 Brain (LP)

1990 (first acquired); 12/11/16 (review)

12/11/16 (new entry)