SFF (Schicke, Fuhrs & Frohling) - Sunburst (1977)

Hoy empezamos el día trayendo rock sinfónico alemán de puta madre, en otro de los históricos aportes del Mago Alberto. Un grupo excelente y prácticamente desconocido que la revienta mal, un placer para los oídos y para escuchar atentamente. otra de las maravillas desconocidas que no se perderán si las disfrutamos como se debe. Para algunos maravillos, para otros aburriso, mientras nadie se pone de acuerdo nosotros no podemos hacer otra cosa que difundirlo... y gozarlo a pleno.

Artista: SFF (Schicke, Fuhrs & Frohling)

Álbum: Sunburst
Año: 1977
Género: Rock sinfónico
Duración: 44:48
Nacionalidad: Alemania

Lista de Temas:
1. Wizzard
2. Autumn Sun in Cold Water
3. Artificial Energy
4. Driftin'
5. Troja
6. 1580
7. Explorer

Alineación:
- Heinz Frohling / guitar
- Gerhard Fuhrs / synthesizer, keyboards
- Edward Schicke / drums
Colaboracion musical
Edward Brumund Ruther / bass

Rock sinfónico con elementos de Krautrock y Jazz-Rock en una mezcla explosiva. Segundo disco de éstos alemanes que vale la pena conocer, una joyita que, aunque algo discutida, no deja de ser una gran obra de arte musical más allá de que a algunos no les agrade demasiado. Un trabajo ostentoso, pomposo, frenético y sublime que ahora nos reseña el Mago, que es quien trajo el disco:

Trío alemán de aquellos gloriosos años 70s, donde todo florecía y todo era novedad, con la variante que estos muchachos pelilargos hacían una mísica de la puta madre, con instrumentos muy singulares, con una producción musical de excelencia, efectos y planos musicales asombrosos, una mezcla increíble e inusual para aquellos años, dando como resultado una discografía digna del blog cabezón.
Si el tiempo y la net ayuda y sin prometer nada a nadie, postearemos varios de sus discos. Lo curioso de investigar por la net a estos teutones es que los comentarios sobre sus trabajos son muy dispares y eso es un síntoma de que hay algo bueno, discrepo particularmente de aquellos comentarios uniformes, y es otra razón más para escuchar la excelente música que hacen estos alemanes.
Casi podría ser redundante al denominar a ciertos trabajos como ooparts musicales pero este proyecto suena como tal, fuera de época y estilo, suena tan actual esta música que más de uno se va a sorprender. Música de hace 39 años atrás, para el Vampiro esto debe ser como un vino añejo.
Una referencia increíble del mundo de aquellos años, donde se hacía muy buena música progre y donde no todo pasaba por ELP, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, por supuesto las compañías que siempre manejaron la cabeza y el buen gusto de la gente, apostaban a esos grandes dinosaurios, pero existían infinidades de otras criaturas tan grandes e importantes como aquellos pero que simplemente no tenían el respaldo de las compañías ni de los medios de entonces, pero en este espacio hay un trabajo antropológico y escarbando profundo en la corteza musical nos encontramos con este tipo de tesoros que sorprenden apasionan y nos seducen sobremanera.
El oído desarrollado y profundo de la comunidad cabezona sabrá apreciar esto, los boludos que pasan como aves rastreras seguro van a seguir de largo, sus cerebros sin juicio propio no comprenderán este tipo de trabajos, pero como hay de todo en la viña del Señor, dejaremos librado esto al libre albedrío de las conciencias.
Un trio que se las trae y que recomiendo sobremanera.

Mago Alberto

Y ya que particularmente me ha gustado tanto, me comprometo a traer, si es que no lo trae primero el Mago Alberto, más de sus trabajos. Seguimos con más comentarios de éste maravilloso material de hoy:

Con su segundo disco, el asombroso trio germano Schicke, Fuhrs & Frohling sigue explorando en el sinfonismo claroscuro y pulido que tan divinos resultados les dio en su disco debut ‘Pictures’. Aqui las cosas siguen manteniendo la misma elegancia, el mismo derroche de imaginacion en las composiciones y arreglos, y la misma fineza en las ejecuciones, especialmente en lo que se refiere a la concrecion de un sonido grupal bien afiatado e integrado. En todo caso, se nota en lineas generales que hay una mayor inclinacion (sin ser sobreabundante) hacia la incoporacion de elementos del jazz fusion, logrando de este modo sazonar con un color ‘picaresco’ el sinfonismo propio de SFF. Esto es lo que sucede en el tema de entrada Wizzard, asi como en Driftin’ y 1580. Solo para hacernos una idea aproximada del asunto, me remito como referente al Camel que transita entre ‘Moon Madness’ y ‘Rain Dances’, aunque con la salvedad de que en el caso de SFF se conserva ese matiz moderadamente aspero en la seccion ritmica, algo que por lo demas es tan recurrente en el caso del progresivo sinfonico aleman, como notamos en Epidaurus y Grobschnitt, por ejemplo.
Por su parte, en Autumn Sun..., Troja y Explorer notamos un parentesco directo con el repertorio del disco debut: en especial, Troja logra en sus mas de siete minutos de duracion plasmar una fluida sucesion de pasajes serenos, sinfonicos y tenebrosos, manteniendo una constante de pulcritud y elegancia – es mi tema favorito de este disco. Artificial Energy ofrece los momentos mas misteriosos e introspectivos de ‘Sunburst’, apoyado sobre una secuencia cadenciosamente armada sobre las congas, se despliega una base compuesta por acordes de guitarra y cortinas de teclado, sobre la cual la guitarra sobregrabada expone una serie de retazos a modo de solos: le encuentro muchos paralelos con los motivos mas recurrentes de Jade Warrior y los instrumentales densos del Eno de los 70s.
En suma, otro gran disco que queda como una joya escondida del sinfonismo germano de la decada de los 70s, un disco que debe ocupar un lugar importante en cualquier buena coleccion progresiva.

Cesar Mendoza

Y por supuesto, como no pueden faltar, aqu{i vienen los comentarios en inglés. Y verán que no todos están de acuerdo al puntuar el disco:

After a terrific beginning with "Symphonic Pictures", its follow-up "Sunburst" placed itself in the demanding position of showing what SFF had to offer next to the prog audience. and it did a brilliant work at it! Being a bit less intense than its predecessor, "Sunburst" is a proof that SFF was still capable of sowing and reaping excellent musical ideas, all of them germinated in diversity and ultimately integrated in a cohesive way. Performances, as usual, are solid and impressive, always keeping up with the pace and melodic demands of each particular compositions: Schicke, Fürhs and Fröhling are classy musicians who serve for the band as a whole, never trying to steal the limelight or challenge each other - instead, they prefer to interact fluidly in favour of a shared complementation and mutual support. The catchy opener 'Wizzard' finds the band exploring the realms of jazz fusion with ease, quite vivaciously due to the rhythm pattern's funky cadence: a recognizable, uplifting main motif is the key to get in touch with the track's mood. It kind of reminds me of "Rain Dances"-Camel-meets- "Romantic Warrior"-RtF , although I'm only mentioning these bands as a reference for the listener: anyway, a special mention goes to Fröhling's spectacular leads. The jazz factor is later reiterated on 'Driftin'' and '1580'. The former pretty much follows in the opener's footsteps, albeit incorporating and added touch of symph stuff; the latter contains a featured presence of grand piano and acoustic guitar, conjuring the distant melancholy of lonely people holding on for one last drink in a pub during the final moments of nighttime. 'Artificial Energy' is a showcase for the trio's mysterious side: somber guitar leads (very Frippian, indeed) soar above an ethereal background constructed by guitar arpeggios, subtle keyboard layers and soft percussion. I wouldn't have minded if it were a bit longer. 'Autumn Sun in Cold Water', 'Troja' (my personal fave from this album) and the playful closure 'Explorer' are more closely related to the previous album's overall spirit. 'Autumn Sun' conveys dreamy ambiences, primarily sustained on the featured use of keyboard leads and textures, properly complemented by guitar solos; 'Troja' starts with a mid-tempo first section, mainly based on a clever use of diverse motifs and its consequent variations, while the second section goes for a more Wagnerian road, portraying an ever-increasing energy that, near the end, seems to conjure images of conflict and drama. General diagnose: yet another SFF masterpiece, though not as brilliant as the preceding one.

César Inca

The mellotron isn't as upfront as on their debut, and there's even one song ("1580") without it. They have a guest bass player on this one as well.
"Wizzard" is perhaps my favourite track on this album. This is an uptempo song with some excellent drumming, guitar and mellotron. "Autumn Sun In Cold Water" is a good song with prominant drumming. "Artificial Energy" is a pastoral song with lots of atmosphere and some good guitar sounds. "Driftin'" reminds me of IONA at times with lots of mood and tempo changes.
"Troja" is another favourite of mine with some good guitar that comes and goes. Mellotron comes in after 3 minutes and the song has a powerful ending. "1580" opens with piano as drums, moog and piano melodies come and go. "Explorer" opens with electronic sounds, and it's 3 minutes before the song really kicks in with lots of mellotron.
As good as this is it still pales in comparison to their debut "Symphonic Pictures". I still recommend it though as it's very well done. 3.5/5 stars.

John Davie

I do agree with what colleague Collaborator Cesar Inca said that this is a brilliant work by SFF as follow-up of their debut album "Symphonic Pictures". For me personally, it's hard to believe that a band that originally played cover of Deep Purple under the name of Spektakel and finally evolved into this kind of fusion like music. I tend to use the term "fusion" instead of "jazz rock fusion" on purpose. To my ears, the music of SFF is far away from "jazz" category even though they have some elements of jazz. Their music is rather exploratory in nature and it sounds to me that they don't want to get "hooked" into one category of music. One thing for sure, their music is basically instrumental outfit with many rock and experimental endeavors.
The opening track "Wizzard" clearly indicates what SFF music is all about. It has all components of rock music and a bit of jazzy elements even though not that heavy. The music is dynamic with more than one time tempo changes. This is quite usual to any bands under the banner of prog, but the band has taken it into different level. The other song that represents good example of how fusion would sound like by combining energy and music textures is "1580" the album concluding track. This is probably my best favorite track of this album. It has an energetic music flow and good improvisations. In fact some nuances of spacey music are also embedded in the music of SFF. One thing I forgot to mention when I reviewed quite a number of Ozric Tentacles albums was that the components of SFF music are there as well in Ozric music. The difference is on the intensity of "spacey" nuance where Ozric put more emphasize on it.
"Sunburst" is an album with tight composition and strong song writing by each member of the band. Yes, fans of jazz-rock fusion music would adore this album, I believe.

Gatot Widayanto

''Symphonic Pictures'' sold no less than 12000 copies and the fascinating following live shows made SFF one of the very succesful bands in Germany.The next year the talented trio entered Dieter Dierk's studio to record the second album.In order to come up with a more spontaneous result they even recruited bassist Eduard Brumund Ruther to play during the sessions.''Sunburst'' was released in 1977 again on Brain label.
Already from the opening tracks it is clear that Schicke, Führs & Fröhling were determined to produce a different style compared to their debut.So ''Sunburst'' ended up as a compilation of diverse tracks with SFF leaving the highly symphonic attitude of the debut for more flexible still quite demanding compositions.A couple of tracks have a strong TANGERINE DREAM influence, being Electronic pieces of hypnotic soudscapes with melodic guitars surrounding and a very spacey atmosphere overall, not quite conveincing yet decent material.The rest of the album is split between Symphonic Rock and powerful Fusion stylings, where Führs' Mellotron shines again along with his synth acrobatics.Nice keyboard breaks and piano interludes are all over the place.These are combined with Fröhling's fiery guitar solos and rhythms, however ''Sunburst'' has a strong felling of improvisation from the very start.The awaited interplays are really good and even a track has a powerful GENTLE GIANT atmosphere due to Führs' dominant clavinet.
Not so tight or grandiose as their debut, but ''Sunburst'' has a lovely atmosphere and you can sure tell these guys were definitely talented.Recommended to fans of keyboard-driven proggy adventures.

apps79

Sophmore release by this obscure german band from the mid 70´s. Sunburst shows the group leaning more towards jazz rock/fusion (plus some eletronic bits) than to symphonic prog. This time the trio is helped by a guest bass player and generally their compositions are a little more structured and focused than on their debut. And still they are not exactly very good. Again it´s obvious that they are excellent musicians (specially Schickés. brilliant drumming and Fühts nice keyboard work). It is a pity that those guys could not come up with a better repertoire of original songs.
After repeated listenings the result is the same: track after track you expect something to happen and it doesn´t. Not exactly boring, but neither exciting. Good production and absolute no highlights. It is easy to understand why they were never big. Even for 1977 there was plenty of better things to hear, prog or otherwise. A typical case fo good musicians lacking some strong songwriting skills and an identity. This CD is surely for collectors and hardcore fans.

Tarcisio Moura

Although it cannot consider this second studio work "Sunburst" from German band SFF in the same level of first "Symphonioc Pictures", nevertheless I consider also worthy of receiving the maximum quotation of 5 stars!!!. An excellent mixture of several styles of progressive music. Besides that in this albun the band counts with the bassist Edward Brumund Ruthe, what provides a more little of "swing" in some musics. Leaving of Track 1 "Wzard" a 'delicious' mixture of techno-music with a jazz-prog, commanded by Heinz Frohling's eletric guitar, going by meditative themes (almost) new age music as in the tracks 2 & 3. In the track 4 "Driftin' " I could identify a certain influence of Gentle Giant, for his syncopated rhythm.The track 5 "Troja" the more eclectic of the album, and maybe the one that more approaches the style presented in the first album. The track 6 "1580" has as prominence Gerard Furhs's acoustic-piano and of Edward Schicke's drums . and finally we have the track 7 "Explorer", that it begins in a style also quite approximate of the new age music and part for a theme that "honors" the music of Yes "Siberian Khatru." As I already spoke before my rate is 5 stars!!!

maryes

Hugely impressive instrumental progressive music, 23 Jun 2010
This review is from: Sunburst (Audio CD Esoteric Reactive 2010 Reissue) This was the second SFF album, and preceded the Fuhrs/Frohling duo work `Ammerland'. Like the debut `Symphonic Pictures' this also calls at all stations from the reflective bongo driven `Artificial Energy' featuring some very Jade Warrior styled guitar, to heavy fusion influenced material very obviously influenced by Mahavishnu. There is a fabulous range of instrumental colours and tempo changes throughout the album. It is always very tightly composed music and never veers off into indulgence and extravagant solos. There is a trace of King Crimson here and a little Patrick Moraz there, but this is really very confident music by musicians who could hold their own.
Once again the mighty Mellotron is to the fore and is used widely and wisely. The guitars range from acoustics to electrics and there is a rich array of keyboards including Moog, Clavinet, String Ensemble, Electric Piano, Piano and (ahem) Bassett ! (This would appear to be an organ) The recording by Dieter Dierks is superb by any standards.
The album is concise at 7 pieces in 35 minutes but packed with ideas none of which outstay their welcome. It doesn't have a fragmentary feel at all, indeed it flows together beautifully like a finely crafted piece of furniture. It all adds up once again to some thoroughly enjoyable and accomplished music which doesn't try too hard to impress. This is quality first division 70's instrumental music and should be an essential purchase for any progressive afficionado.

Steve Dinsdale

SFF - Schicke Fuhrs and Frohling are back with another album! They offer in this record some great melodies! I totally like it! Their technique is lovely, and they play beautifully! This album will certainly blow your mind if you dig this symphonic sound from the seventies! RECOMMENDED!

Dan Yaron

Espero que lo disfruten, los está esperando en la Biblioteca Sonora Cabezona.