Search - Tomorrow's Gift :: Tomorrow's Gift

Should've been a single album

BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 06/14/2004

(3 out of 5 stars)

"Tomorrow's Gift was one of those German prog bands that few have heard about. In 1970, they released their self-entitled album on the very short lived +Plus+ label (only three albums from that label, the others being Wind's Seasons and the self-entitled album from Ikarus). The label was ran by Jochen Petersen, a member of Ikarus, and later Randy Pie. Oddly, their second album, Goodbye Future wouldn't be released until 1973, by which they were recording for the Spielgelei label (same label as Kraan). Their debut was released as a double album. At the time, the band featured female vocalist Ellen Meyer and guitarist Carlo Karges, who was later briefly a member of Novalis (for their 1975 self-entitled second album), and later found himself playing with Nena (as in the '80s hit "99 Luftballoons" or its English language counterpart, "99 Red Balloons"). The rest of the band consisted of Wolfgang Trescher on flute, Bernd Kiefer on bass, Gerd Paetzke on drums, and Manfred Rürup on keyboards (Hammond organ, Hohner clavinet). The one thing worth noting about this band is the vocals. Tomorrow's Gift, being German, was yet another long list of bands who decided to sing in English. And if you thought Eloy's Frank Bornemann had the most ridiculous accent trying to sing in English, get a load of Ellen Meyer. It's very obvious she barely has a grasp of the English language. Let's get with the music: the music is early, rough, unpolished prog rock, pretty much in the style of many British bands, especially Jethro Tull. There is plenty of flute played in the style of Ian Anderson. It's only the accented vocals giving it away that they aren't British. But this album also falls in the "double album"-trap syndrome, obviously not having enough good material, so they fill it with needless solos and filler, like "The First Seasons After the Destruction", with the pointless drum solo, and "Sandy Concert" which gets a bit repetitive with guest Jochen Petersen providing a sax solo. It's obviously the shorter pieces that work the best, like "One of the Narrow Minded Thoughts", "Breeds There a Man" and "King in a Nook". I especially liked the use of clavinet on "Breeds There a Man". Definately this album is worth having for the good cuts, but they truly overreached themselves with this double album. Might not be the first place to start for those wanting to dig in to the world of rare and obscure prog rock, but for those who like wonder how Jethro Tull-like prog might sound like fronted by a female vocalist, give it a try."