People often lament prog's near death in the '80s, but it was still very
much alive in certain areas of Europe. One such place was Germany, and
Peter Wustmann's WMMS label. One of the first bands to come from this
fledgling company was Bel Air. In 1986, guitarist Frank Baur, guitarist /
vocalist Steffen Wertz, drummer Fifi Maurer, bass player Hansjörg Vogt,
keyboard player Markus Vogt, and flautist Felicitas Oettinger got
together and recorded "Welcome Home." They had enough success to record a
follow up, but three years was enough to take its toll. When they went
back to record the follow up, 1989's "The sleeping Beauty," Fifi Maurer
had been replaced by Holger Oberfell, Steffen Wertz was replaced by
Klaus Meyer, and they brought in Andreas Kanthak to handle lead vocals.
They never recorded another album of original music. However, in 1994
the debut was repackaged and released as "A Golden Dream." This version
changed the original track order, and added two additional songs.
This
very AOR based Neo, although they do break into a little more symphonic
styles from time to time. On the whole though, I think they were
listening to a lot of Asia. I do find the vocals a bit confusing. After
losing Steffen Wertz, they were in the market for not just a guitarist,
but also a new lead vocalist. Since they decided to split the duties
between two people, I think they could have done much better than
Andreas Kanthak. Perhaps that is why they never recorded again.
- Frank Baur / guitar
- Andreas Kanthak / vocals
- Klaus Meyer / guitar
- Holger Obergfell / drums, percussion
- Felicitas Oettinger / flute
- Hans-Georg Vogt / bass, keyboards
- Markus Vogt / piano, synthesizers, vocals
1. Bel airways (4:23)
2. Just right (4:43)
3. Sleeping beauty (10:40)
4. Spider lines (5:06)
5. Shine on (6:52)
6. The last song (6:15)
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