Monday 18 May 2015

Leo Philipp Schmidt's Outlines II from 1987




It's obvious to me that this is his magnum opus composition to which he devoted hours, months, years of work, perfecting the music to strike an exquisite balance between 'world music' or new age borrowings, jazz, classical music and chamber elements, as a statement to the world: I have something to say.  And I'll take a wild guess the world did not listen to him-- though I may (hopefully) be wrong.  He not only composed these works but plays keys, woodwinds, guitar, and even sings, to a certain, perhaps not ideal, extent.  He made another record a few years later, I am quite curious about.  What is to me particularly fascinating is that the cover design as well as art (the paintings) were by him which is also the case for the later record, you can see here in miniature:




We saw this before in the case of Martin Springett who crafted such a Genesis-worthy album but went on to become a visual artist after his progressive initiation (and swan song!).  I've mentioned many times before how this dedication to visual art was such a feature of these older records and how lacking I feel it is today, partly due to the small size of CD covers.  And now that few even buy those, one can expect cover art to gradually devolve to becoming even more neglected!

Here's a sample, the shorter track on side one called Leaving All Things Behind:






Credits :
Drums, Percussion – Hakim Ludin
Engineer – Martin Wieland
Guitar – Klaus Bösser
Keyboards – Hanna Michel
Oboe – Johanna Issle
Saxophone – Chris Hirson
Strings – Joachim Romeis
Vocals, Keyboards, Woodwind, Guitar – Leo Philipp Schmidt


Now later this week I'm going to be back with a slew of highly in-demand progressive masterpieces...  you will be hearing some great music.  So stay tuned please!  But first, or next, a record that really blew me away when I heard a few of the songs-- and the back story behind it is absolutely fascinating to read about.

7 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. I tend to listen to samples on this blog, perhaps often not paying enough attention to the music, but this time I had to - at least the vocals of this guy caused a rare sensation of bafflement in me... Sounds like a real-life Tony Clifton or even... a *parody* of Clifton (thus, something superhuman)... It's a bit much for my system at the moment, will have to figure it all out some other time.....

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  3. My impression is that you need to listen to the whole thing from beginning to end and then the vocals are better integrated into the work. Of course I agree it's not really entirely successful. But with these artists, we have to give them a bit of extra room for these things.

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  4. Well, it certainly got me interested... just couldn't tell if the comedy was intentional or not. ;D I figured by the description it might be not... I suppose I'll just have to download it all now, at least I'll have to play this track to a friend who's both a prog fan and a fan of Tony Clifton (based on the "Man on the Moon" movie I think, though I'm sure he's checked Andy Kaufman's original performances too).

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    1. I did DL the album, listened, and was quite impressed... I get you now! I can even approach "Leaving All Things Behind" from a dramatic, rather than just comic, perspective... after all the impressive instrumental music of "Time Crossing" it sounds more like a personal catharsis and his vocal shortcomings just make it seem like he's struggling with himself... Acting, rather than singing. In fact I quite like things that I can view equally effectively in a serious or comical light. Wonder what it'll sound like the next time... Thanks for all the music.

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  5. Can you reupload this jewel?
    Its great!

    Sincerely

    JRAC

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  6. https://www.sendspace.com/file/o3pz5f

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