Lillie
Joined: Apr 09, 2010 Posts: 15 Location: LA
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Posted: Tue Dec 08, 2015 4:35 pm Post subject:
MYSTICAL MORNING BY UWE GRONAU Subject description: GERMAN KEYBOARDIST UWE GRONAU HAS CRAFTED A TRIBUTE TO KEITH EMERSON |
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I just love this guy Uwe Gronau, a strange keyboardist from Germany who puts out some new eclectic music every year. This time it is a CD called Mystical Morning that has more drums than usual (although he always has a few rocking numbers). He gets lumped in to the new age category for a lack of anywhere else to put him, probably because he usually drops in a couple of solo piano pieces or space-synth numbers. But on this recording, besides the piano compositions, he explores his progressive-rock roots. For example, he has always admired Keith Emerson of Emerson, Lake & Palmer, and the fact that Emerson is equally adept on synthesizers or a Hammond B-3 organ. So Gronau sends a “Letter to Emerson” (tune #7) featuring both instruments, and it is a powerful tribute. Then on “Over the Bridge,” Gronau uses those two instruments (again with drums backing) but adds in acoustic guitar, synth horns and a bunch of varied sounds. Wow!
Sure there are a couple of solo and almost solo piano numbers that he usually includes on his discs, and those have nice melodies, but the exciting parts of this album are the ensemble sounds. For example, he went to Sri Lanka once and did a concert at night which apparently attracted a bunch of animals out of the jungle or forest, so he wrote a song about it. The tune is a powerful piece of music starting with bird sounds and progressing with solid ethnic drumming. One of the upbeat pieces is “Special Romance” with strong drums and bass vying for attention with piano and synth.
The album is full of interesting tidbits within the tunes themselves. If you like new age and offbeat instrumental and even prog-rock, you might want to check this fellow out. He does not disappoint and often surprises. Plug in his name and dot com to go to his website and find out more about him. |
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