(sympho/prog rock) Ache - Pictures From Cyclus 7 (1976) , FLAC (image+.cue) lossless

The seeds for ACHE were sown in the early 60's via the Danish beat group THE HARLOWS. When HARLOWS Torsten Olafsson (bass), Peter Mellin (organ) and Glenn Fischer (drums) were joined by former MCKENZIE SET guitarist Finn Olafsson in 1968, ACHE was born.

They spent the next two years working on an extended piece called "De Homine Urbano", which was released as programme music to an experimental "rock ballet" in 1970. Released on the Philips label the same year with an accompanying single of non-album tracks, it netted positive reviews in the Danish press. ACHE's "rock theater" created something of a sensation in the rock underground, and "Green Man" followed in 1971. The next major ACHE project, by a revised six-piece version of the band, was a conceptual work called "Pictures From Cyclus 7", written in collaboration with lyricist Bo Lillesoe in 1975 and released one year later.

“Pictures From Cyclus 7” is a nice surprise, and a drastic departure from the first two LPs (which were done in the typical for the era hard-psych style, with guitars fuzzed out and turned to 11, concocting bone-crunching, skull-crushing riffs to the slow-burning drone of the just as distorted Hammond organ). In contrast, it is a gentle, melodic and fragile symphonic rock effort resembling a lot of the German prog bands which were creating in the same genre around that time period (the mid-70s): Novalis, Hoelderlin, Satin Whale, Pell Mell, et.al. A must for all symph-prog fans!
© Alex Gitlin

Released in 1976 5 years after their second album Green Man and with a completely revised line up, Pictures From Cyclus 7 was not only Ache's best album, but the best Danish prog album period. I have heard quite a few bands from Denmark, Norway, et all and been hugely let down trying to find something along this album's lines of melodic disciplined progressive pop/rock with no self indulgence whatsoever. Ache had made two high quality if inconsistent psychedelic/progressive records in the form of De Homine Urbano and Green Man, but this line up of 6 musicians + lyricist Bo Lillesoe made what is the unbeatable album from the Nordic Realm. The music is best described as "cosmic" progressive pop/rock- a cross hybrid of late 60s pop influences (the vocals), dark psychedelia (the guitars, lyrics, some vocals, some keyboards), and symphonic prog (Procol Harum/Genesis influence- particularly Procol H.) The lyrics are really sinister while the music is fairly subdued, extremely melodic, and one could even say lushly symphonic with liberal use of synthesizer, organ, and mellotron. The group were not aiming for an "Anglo" sound, but instead for something uniquelly dark and as freezing as a Danish winter, with some UK influences much in the background. Sung entirely in English, the two vocalists have extremely appealing voices and the dreamy melodic vocals could lead to comparisons with England's Deep Feeling (why don't you guys put this album up here- it's THE BEST!!!) and Kayak, while the heavily phased and distorted guitar takes on psychedelic overtones which makes this symphonic/psychedelic hybrid a unique record. So what makes this album so good you might ask? There is a lot of heart and a lot of warmth in this music, it is as uplifting as it is ominous, and the careful attention paid to songs instead of solos is very refreshing. Things are at their murkiest on "(Still Hungry) Vampire Song" which is pretty harrowing, creepy, and really, really abrasive lyrically and the exact opposite musically. The chorus is pure Salty Dog/Shine On Brightly period Procol Harum while the vocals sound seriously drugged in a natural rather than chemical induced way- although it may have been both. There is no track I wouldn't say is an absolute killer on this album, and the diversity helps a great deal. Here you have uptempo melodic pop laced rock in the Introduction, complex prog in "Roses," and a marriage of pop, prog, and heavy psychedelia in the closing track. Everything any MUSIC fan could want is here- flawless musicianship, great vocals, a fab production, and most importantly great songs. The music is not aimless like on some of Ache's earlier works which are still good, and also there is no "experimental" or "free jazz" yammering like so much of these overrated Danish bands (Burnin Red Ivanhoe etc). If you are looking for the best Danish record for progressive rock this is the album to do it, and it blows hyper expensive doggerell like Old Man And The Sea out of the water! I would even go so far as to say that at this point in time Ache were a world class band who could stand up to anybody from anywhere. Unfortunately, the line up that recorded this album fell apart, leaving behind but one masterpiece much coveted by me and I hope a few others.
Review © bristolstc

- Stig Kreutzfeldt / vocals, percussion
- Johnnie Gellett / vocals, percussion, acoustic guitar
- Finn Olafsson / guitars
- Peter Mellin / keyboards, harmony vocals
- Steen Toft Andersen / bass
- Gert Smedegaard / drums