Now comes Edo Zanki / Don Anderson's Jetzt Komm' Ich from 1977

The curiosity overtook me and I was forced to buy this record on the basis of his prior installments as aka Don Anderson.  It's clearly the same singer with the beautiful warm voice born to sing rock unfortunately it is now singing pop and a couple of reggae songs in German.  What a shame that after such a superb opening in bluesy progressive rock in the early seventies he should move into complete commercial territory.  I apologize for the skips on the title track, A3, which few will notice I'm sure.  His songwriting still teeters a little too precariously close to the god-awful Elton John.  At any rate after this posting few will make the same mistake I made here.

The small songbird that most approaches the perfection of the eagle that once flew high is A4's Nie mehr, an excellent and beautiful song if you take it on its own radio-friendly terms:





Coming soon: more classic progressive gems, more fusion, more library, I bet you'll be surprised at how much great music is still out there from this period in time that you haven't yet heard, guaranteed.

Edo Zanki / Don Anderson's other early record, Feelin' Alright from 1971

Again an astonishingly beautiful cover painting.

I mentioned in the last Don Anderson post that this earlier album was not as perfected as the next one, The Eagle Flies.  It's more bluesy and basic rock.  The fact that the album's title is a cover version of the old radio hit "Feelin' Alright" gives you a significant clue.  There are some well-composed rock songs in here but not much of the interesting mild progressive aspects of the next record.  I find the singer's voice really really enjoyable though, this is a man like Mick Jagger who was born to sing rock music.

My favourite track here is the A4 "Morning Dew," note the effort at sounding like Elton John:

Don Anderson and Friends and the Eagle Flies in 1972

Occasionally one comes across an album that vaults into the position of a personal favourite, perhaps due to quirks of the songwriting that especially appeal to one's taste, and subsequently in one's own musical rotation it circulates regularly and repeatedly.  This is such an album for me. I confess it's not the most progressive album imaginable, but in its perfect use of early seventies grooves, its Santanaesque energy, and particularly the wonderful depth of the singer's art, it's a small masterpiece in its own style.  I feel it would only be right for me to share my enjoyment with others rather than keeping it to myself.  It would be too much to hope that one day these fabulous songs could be heard on the radio, even satellite radio, for which media they are absolutely perfectly suited in fact, but at least I can feel comforted somewhere out there someone else will be singing to themselves these same great lyrics.

First some quick facts.  Don Anderson was Edo Zanki.  The blurb from discogs states: "Croat musician, vocalist and producer, born 19 October 1952 in Zadar, Yugoslavia (presently Croatia).  He moved to Germany with his family at the age of 5."  Prior to this record he made "Feelin' Alright" which in my opinion is not to the same high quality.  Notice that after reverting to his birth name he made several pop or rock albums later in the seventies.  I have no idea what is their musical value but am curious if anyone might know, particularly I wonder if he hit his peak in the early or later seventies.

These records remind me of the Australian band "Pirana" well-known to progressive fans.  The interesting songwriting combined with the slightest Santana influence and the great funky energy were typical of the seventies.

"Now I see.  That's not what it's all about.  Life's a Fight and winning is up to me."

The wonderful title track, The Eagle Flies.

"I been talking to some friends, they been telling me words like 'communist infiltration' then I knew I had to start thinking--

The war keeps on rolling, the eagle flies, no one thinks of the reason why..."

"All that killing... never healing..."

Now the track Meet Me, with its gorgeous major third chord progression on guitar resembling a Keith Richards riff, complemented by electric piano, I could listen to all day over and over again.  And the George Benson-like guitar solo!  Is it possible for rock music to get more heavenly?  Not to me.

Listening to these words loudly in my car, I am transporting back to those wonderful days, the blissful hopes of the times mixed with the anxiety of the social revolutions going on everywhere.  And the creative excitement I believe was perfectly reflected in the energy of the rock music of the time, which is sadly absent today.

But how appropriate are those same words in the present, forty-one years later, with the United States still involved in conflicts all over the world now under the banner of the war against terrorism instead of the war against communism? 

Yes, the war keeps on rolling, the eagle flies, and no one thinks of the reason why....