Tanz und Tod (Anyone's Daughter, 1982)

Anyone's Daughter are one of my favourite german bands ever. I think this "Tanz und Tod" (something like "Dance And Death" in English) should explain why I'm fond of them. It's a three-part suite coming from the album "In Blau", and it also should prove how the '80s sounds could go along very well with prog rock (they rarely did, I know...). And with native language lyrics, that's always a plus to me.

"In Blau" was the fourth album by Anyone's Daughter.

The three sections of this track are really diversified, ranging from pop-prog to piano solo and from spoken lines to a full-bodied symphonic finale. Of course, other attractions are there to please the prog ear: guitar solos (the last and longest one is good as gold, IMHO), jazzy passages and so on. Energetic and dynamic, yes, but also romantic and melodic, this composition doesn't bind me to choose between heaven and hell... it's an all-inclusive set. I take it.

Another Day Like Superman (Anyone's Daughter, 1980)

I'm simply fascinated by this track, released by Anyone's Daughter in their second studio album. This German band was on the stage since 1972, but their discography only began in 1979 with "Adonis", a good Genesis-inspired album. But their self titled 1980 LP is my favourite album of theirs. This song begins in a pastoral way, just like a slow, acoustic ballad, then the rythm section comes in and a beautiful electric guitar solo completely changes the tempo and the mood: Deep Purple meet Genesis, I'd say.

I like this cover... somewhere between Yes and Disney.

Uwe Karpa plays his instrument as fast as a devil and keyboardist Mattias Ulmer also has some moments of glory before the sung section comes back to introduce a dreaming closing section. Maybe they were too late to become a world sensation, but they surely were coherent and brave and - most of all - they made a present of this song to my prog ears. Try it, it won't disappoint you, mark my words.