Abacus

Abacus were fronted by the British vocalist Chris Williams, who also wrote much of their material. Abacus was a successful debut album, recorded August 1971 at the Windrose Studios, Hamburg. It was also released on Polydor in the UK. It included six songs which were well-arranged and drew influences from sources as different as classical music ("Capuccino"), jazz and folk ("Pipedream Revisited", "Song For Brunhilde", "Song For John And Yoko") and psychedelic blues ("Radbod Blues"). The organ work of Barutzky dominated their instrumental muscle, but Schade's varied guitar (sometimes even sitar) work was also remarkable. This first album is often regarded as their best. With their great sense of humour and versatile musical style, Abacus can rightly be compared to Nine Days' Wonder.

Their second album Just A Day's Journey Away! (1972) was a competent follow- up, but this time the group abandoned their versatile progressive style and concentrated on folk and country. I'm not sure everyone will appreciate country songs such as "Ballad Of Lucky Luke"! Although "Seasong", "Munchen 23" and "White House May Come" are good enough, the album as a whole was less interesting and daring than the previous one. It was recorded at Music Land Studios, Munich in June 1972. Everything You Need (1972) was released on Polydor's new Zebra label and introduced former 2066 & Then drummer Konstatin Bommarius as a new member of the band, replacing Felix Hans. This album was a further move towards a more simple and commercial style, with four average pop rock songs on side one and the "Everything You Need" suite filling up side two. Midway (1973) was another disappointment lacking inspiration. Abacus now had a song-oriented style with short tracks, in contrast to their promising 1971 debut.

ABACUS (8/1971)
LP Polydor (1971)

JUST A DAY'S JOURNEY AWAY (2-3/1972)
LP Polydor (1972)

Hans-Rolf Schade (Guitar, Percussion, Sitar, Vocals), Felix Hans (Drums, Percussion, Vocals), Chris Williams (Vocals, Guitar), Klaus Kohlhase (Bass, Percussion), Christoph Barutzky (Piano, Organ)

EVERYTHING YOU NEED (6/1972)
LP Zebra (1972)

Chris Williams (Vocals, Guitar), Hans-Rolf Schade (Guitar, Vocals), Christoph Barutzky (Piano, Organ), Klaus Kohlhase (Bass), Konstantin Bommarius (Drums)

MIDWAY (8/1973)
LP Zebra (1973)

Chris Williams (Vocals), Charly Schade (Guitar, Sitar), Chris Barutzky (Keyboards, Synthesizer), Klaus Kohlhase (Bass), Allen Warren (Drums, Percussion)