Friday 14 October 2016

German Tau's masterpiece album








Well, back to the stunning masterpieces.  From Tom:

Tau - s/t. 1981 private. 

Simply put, Tau play a symphonic rock style, with bits of humor spread throughout. The progressions are very much out of the early Genesis school, and Tau could be considered contemporaries of Ivory or even Neuschwanstein. But there's also a strain of late 70s Grobschnitt found throughout, both in the zaniness and even in the AOR moments. Sung in German, which is unusual for this type of prog rock. Lots of mellotron for an 80s album. Not a monster or anything, but fans of neo progressive rock are likely to really enjoy this one.

I beg to differ, to me this is a masterpiece of progressive music.  Certain tracks really stuck with me throughout my progressive listening career such as the utterly bizarre Lucy in the Sky with the siren-like riff in the background, the drinking song / death song (todesfuge), and particularly the variety of the inventiveness on display here with widely divergent styles exhibited on an admittedly Genesis-derived background including Brecht-like political chants, folk or acoustic, and acidy 'psych'.  Then there's the quality of the modern-music-like composition.  As was so often the case a poor rip has been circulating for some time and this brand new vinyl rip will really delight everyone with its clarity and beauty.



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