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Lucifer's Friend

 
Artist: Lucifer's Friend
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Pop Artists

Group Members:

Peter Hesslein, Joachim Rietenbach, Dieter Horns, Herbert Bornholdt, John Lawton, Mike Starrs, Adrian Askew, Peter Hecht

Similar Artists:

Diamond Head, Iron Maiden, Dust, Savatage, GWAR, Rage, Demon, Dio, Skyclad, Yngwie Malmsteen, Judas Priest, Warrior Soul, Manowar, Dead Horse, Rainbow, Lynch Mob, War Dog, Blind Guardian

Influenced By:

Blue Öyster Cult
  • Formed: 1970, Germany
  • Disbanded: 1982
  • Genres: Rock

Biography

A German outfit fronted by a British singer, Lucifer's Friend first gained minor notoriety, and later major cult status, as both early practitioners of heavy metal and progressive rock. Formed in 1970 Hamburg, by former German Bonds members Peter Hesslein (guitar), Peter Hecht (keyboards), Dieter Horns (bass), and Joachim Rietenbach (drums), the group was initially dubbed Asterix and recorded an entire album's worth of material before connecting with singer John Lawton, whose then band, Stonewall, was playing a residency at the city's famed Top Ten Club. Lawton's vocals would grace Asterix's only, eponymous album later the same year, and all involved were excited enough by the results that they immediately began collaborating on more material with which to relaunch the band under the provocative new moniker of Lucifer's Friend. Released in early 1971, the Lucifer's Friend album contained organ-intensive hard rock along the same lines as contemporary proto-metal bands like Deep Purple, Atomic Rooster, and, especially, Uriah Heep, for whom, coincidentally, Lawton would wind up singing several years down the line. But, for now, Lucifer's Friend's biggest challenge was a problematic aversion to touring, as well as a compositional restlessness that saw their sophomore effort, 1972's curiously named Where the Groupies Killed the Blues, morphing drastically to acquire progressive rock tendencies reminiscent of King Crimson and, to a lesser degree, the quickly emerging Krautrock acts of the period. These compositional experiments would only intensify on 1973's I'm Just a Rock 'n' Roll Singer, which added entire brass sections in the vein of Chicago Transit Authority, and 1974's Banquet (featuring new drummer Herbert Bornhold), which soared upon even jazzier elements and symphonic arrangements delivered with help from the James Last Orchestra. Lucifer's Friend would finally reign in such extravagance on 1976's Mind Exploding LP (where Bornhold was demoted to percussionist behind new drummer Curt Cress), and they even considered increasing their touring engagements, but their only problem now was that Lawton had quit -- accepting the offer to join Uriah Heep that was mentioned earlier. Scotsman Mike Starrs (formerly singer for Colosseum II) was brought in to replace him and Lucifer's Friend proceeded to abruptly abandon their progressive past for good, embracing melodic mainstream rock on a pair of albums: 1978's Good Time Warrior and 1980's Sneak Me In (adding second keyboardist Adrian Askew). Then, John Lawton returned for a final, harder-rocking Lucifer's Friend album, 1981's Mean Machine, after which the group officially split up until 1994's one-off reunion LP, Sumo Grip. Interestingly, through all of these years and stylistic changes, it's ironically that original Lucifer's Friend album -- more so than their more abundant prog rock releases -- which has enjoyed the most frequent reissues, being considered a classic document of early heavy metal. ~ Eduardo Rivadavia, All Music Guide
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Wikipedia: Lucifer's Friend
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Home > Library > Miscellaneous > Wikipedia
Lucifer's Friend
Origin Germany
Genres Heavy metal
hard rock
progressive rock
Years active 1970-1982
1993-1997 (as Lucifer's Friend II)
Labels Vertigo, Janus, Fontana, Repertoire
Associated acts The German Bonds
Stonewall
Asterix
The Pink Mice
Electric Food
A.R. & Machine
Les Humphries Singers
Uriah Heep
Edison Lighthouse
Colosseum II
James Last Orchestra
The Giants
Gunhill
The Bonds
Website [1]
Former members
John Lawton
Peter Hesslein
Peter Hecht
Dieter Horns
Joachim Rietenback
Herbert Bornhold
Curt Cress
Mike Starrs
Adrian Askew
Andreas Dicke
Jogi Wichmann
Udo Dahmen

Lucifer's Friend was a 1970s German rock band. Allmusic author, Eduardo Rivadavia, noted the group as, "early practitioners of heavy metal and progressive rock."[1] They also incorpotated elements of jazz into their music.[2]

Contents

History

The British-born John Lawton was vocalist for a group called Stonewall. Peter Hecht, Dieter Horns, Peter Hesslein, and Joachim Reitenbach were members of a band called the German Bonds. The five joined together to record an album under the band name of Asterix in 1970, then changed their name to Lucifer's Friend and continued under that name. Another group called the Pink Mice was a side project by some of the members in 1971 minus Lawton.

The early albums were released on the Vertigo Records label in Europe, but in the United States those albums were released on a series of small independent record labels (Billingsgate, Janus, Passport), often a year or more after their release in Europe. Thus, despite airplay in some markets and a cult following, the band's albums were hard to find and commercial success eluded them. The band was finally signed to Elektra Records in the late 1970s who released three albums with a more commercial pop oriented sound, but by then interest in the band had waned; those albums were even less successful than the earlier ones.

Lucifer's Friend was known for changing musical styles and influences on each album. The self-titled 1970 debut had dark lyrics and a stripped-down guitar and organ style and sounded similar to Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath[citation needed]. That album is still sought after by fans of early heavy metal music. The second album, Where the Groupies Killed the Blues, took an entirely different direction; it was a very experimental album of progressive and psychedelic rock, mostly composed by John O'Brien Docker. On the third album, I'm Just a Rock & Roll Singer, they changed direction again, this time in the straightforward rock style popularized by such groups as Grand Funk Railroad, and gritty "life on the road" themes in the lyrics. Banquet featured extended, multi-layered jazz fusion compositions and a 30-piece backup band, alternating with some shorter tracks reminiscent of Chicago and Traffic. Those first four albums are all concept albums of a sort and along with the self-titled Asterix album are the most sought after today.

Mind Exploding established a holding pattern and tried to combine the jazz of Banquet with the garage-rock of Rock & Roll Singer, but was not as well received as the earlier albums. Vocalist John Lawton left in 1976 to join Uriah Heep and was replaced by Mike Starrs, former vocalist with Colosseum II. John Lawton returned for the 1981 album Mean Machine. On the two albums without Lawton they moved to a more commercial sound, on 1978's Good Time Warrior and 1980's Sneak Me In.

John Lawton's 1980 solo album on RCA, Heartbeat, was a Lucifer's Friend album in everything but name, with the lineup from Sneak Me In performing as backup musicians on that project. Lawton's official return, Mean Machine, found the band returning to heavy metal, this time in the vein of Rainbow. The band officially broke up in 1982 but briefly reformed in the early 1990s to release a new CD, Sumo Grip.

Trivia

 Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (July 2009)

Peter Hecht contributed orchestral arrangements to A.R.& Machine's Echo double-album in 1972, the second album from Achim Reichel as such.

The later albums on Elektra include keyboardist Adrian Askew, formerly of the pop group Edison Lighthouse who had the early 1970s hit single "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)".

During the 1970s John Lawton split his time between Lucifer's Friend and another band, the Les Humphries Singers, which was very different from Lucifer's Friend and performed a revue of then-current Top 40 and gospel music material.

On October, 2007, power metal band 3 Inches of Blood covered "In The Time of Job When Mammon Was a Yippie" (originally from Lucifer's Friend's first album) on their second EP, Trial of Champions.

On November, 2007, Edguy's singer Tobias Sammet side project, Avantasia, covered the song "Ride the sky" in the first part of the Lost in Space EP for The Scarecrow, Avantasia's third album.

Discography

Lucifer's Friend albums

As Lucifer's Friend II

Side Projects and Related Bands

German Bonds (Includes Peter Hecht on keyboards and Dieter Horns on Bass)

  • Sonata Facile b/w So Mystifying (1965)
  • We are Out of Sight b/w Sing Hallelujah (1966)
  • Skinny Eleonore b/w Birthday is Today (1969)

Bokaj Retsiem (Includes Peter Hecht on keyboards and Dieter Horns on Bass)

  • Psychedelic Underground (1968)

Asterix (Includes all original Lucifer's Friend members)

Brother T & Family (Includes all original Lucifer's Friend members, except John Lawton)

  • Drillin' of the Rock (1970)

Electric Food (Includes all original Lucifer's Friend members, except John Lawton)

Pink Mice (Includes all original Lucifer's Friend members, except John Lawton)

  • In Action (1971)
  • In Synthesized Sound (1971)

Hepp, Hahn and Huhn (Includes Peter Hecht on keyboards and Dieter Horns on bass)

  • Alive and Goodnight (1971)

Okko Becker (Includes Peter Hesslein on guitars)

  • Sitar and Electronics (1971)

Propeller (Includes Peter Hesslein on guitars)

  • Let us Live Together (1971)

Frankie Dymon (Includes Peter Hecht on keyboards)

  • Let it Out (1971)

The Rattles (Includes Herbert Bornhold on drums)

  • The Witch (1972)

David Frank Selection (Includes Peter Hesslein on guitars)

  • Blues & Electronics (1972)

John Lawton (Includes all original Lucifer's Friend members)

  • Heartbeat (John Lawton solo album, 1980)

References

  1. ^ http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:09fexq85ld6e~T1
  2. ^ http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hxfixqw5ldse

External links


This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

 
 

 

Copyrights:

Artist. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Lucifer's Friend".  Read more

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