Without wanting to sound like a racist, I have to say that no black guy can sing symphonic rock the same way that no white guy can sing soul. That’s why the current line-up of the German band Anyone’s Daughter is far, very far from the lush symphonic compositions they offered us by means of albums such as Adonis and Im Blau. Only guitarist Uwe Karpa and keyboard player Matthias Ulmer remain from the original line-up, so you will detect some of the original sound, yet by adding a black singer and a black bass player the music has been injected by a dose of funk rather than go back to their roots. Tucked away in “Good Gone Bad” is some glorious organ playing, yet it’s mixed way in the background so it goes by unnoticed. The heavy guitars in “Danger World” almost lift the song towards the sound of Living Colour instead of the gentle symphonic touches we have always associated with Anyone’s Daughter. Don’t get me wrong, as there are many good songs around here, yet pop songs, not prog songs. Even the revamped versions of classics such as “Moria” or “The Sundance Of The Haute Province” can’t help that. “Moria” now sounds like a leftover from the Neue Deutsche Welle, augmented with an extra disco beat. If you know the original, it really hurts to listen to this version! Of “The Sundance Of The Haute Province," only the glorious Fender Rhodes remains because André Caswell simply can’t evoke the original atmosphere of Harald Bareth. There’s a wonderful synth solo in “I’ll Never Walk That Road Again” though, and the electric violin in “Wheel Of Fortune” certainly introduces an eastern feel but that’s about as far as the interesting bits go. However, the almost all instrumental “Helios” is what we really want to hear. This is clearly a battle between Ulmer and Karpa taking us back to the heydays of the band. Ah if only all of the album consisted of these delights! Because the line-up on this album is also touring under the name of Anyone’s Daughter, I’m afraid to think what they might do to immortal tunes such as “Blue House," “Anyone’s Daughter” or “Another Day Like Superman." If only the original line-up could get back together again just for once … Reviewed by : John "Bobo" Bollenberg
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