Lucifer's Friend | |
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| Origin | Hamburg, West Germany |
| Genres | |
| Years active | 1970–1982 2014–2020 |
| Labels | |
| Past members | Peter Hesslein Stephan Eggert Jogi Wichmann Joachim "Addi" Rietenbach Peter Hecht Herbert Bornhold Mike Starrs Dieter Horns John Lawton |
| Website | lucifersfriend |
Lucifer's Friend was a German rock band, formed in Hamburg in 1970 by guitarist Peter Hesslein, singer John Lawton, bassist Dieter Horns, keyboardist Peter Hecht, and drummer Joachim Reitenbach. [1] The group was an early practitioner of heavy metal and progressive rock; [2] they also incorporated elements of jazz and fusion into their music, especially in their fourth album Banquet of 1974. [3] [4] Beyond heavy metal, the band has been cited, too, as one of the pioneers of doom metal, helping to define both genres due to their heavy sound and dark oriented lyrics of their debut Lucifer's Friend of 1970, [5] and returning to their roots in 1981 with Mean Machine , although more influenced by speed metal.
Vocalist John Lawton's band Stonewall broke up while on tour in West Germany in 1969. While the band returned home to Britain, Lawton elected to stay in Germany for the time being, and there he met Peter Hesslein, Dieter Horns, Peter Hecht and Joachim Reitenbach, all members of a band called The German Bonds. The five joined together to record an album under the band name Asterix in 1970, soon changing their name to Lucifer's Friend. [6]
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 1977: it 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 Deep Purple, Uriah Heep, 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 (1972), 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 (1973), 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 (1974) 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 (1976) 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. He was replaced by Mike Starrs. With him the band recorded and released 7" single "Old Man Roller / Writing On The Wall" in June 1977. John Lawton returned for the 1981 album Mean Machine . On the two albums without Lawton the band moved to a more commercial sound, on 1978's Good Time Warrior and 1980s 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 and NWOBHM. The band officially broke up in 1982 but thirteen years later, in 1994 John and Peter Hesslein briefly reformed to release a new CD, Sumo Grip under the name of Lucifer's Friend II, with Curt Cress, Andreas Dicke, Jogi Wichmann and Udo Dahmen replacing the classic line-up. After this they broke up once more.
Although John Lawton stated that the crew weren't interested in getting back to record or perform live again, [7] in August 2014 he announced on his website that the original lineup would reunite to play some dates in 2015, including Sweden Rock Festival in June, [8] after almost 40 years since their last gig together. They then released a new compilation album called Awakening, followed by four new tracks. [9] Due to the demise of their original drummer Joachim "Addi" Rietenbach a few years ago, his position was now occupied by Stephan Eggert. Also, original keyboardist Peter Hecht refused to participate in the reunion. Due to this, guitarist Peter Hesslein played the keyboard parts on the new album, once again hiring Jogi Wichmann (who played on Sumo Grip) as the live keyboardist for the shows in 2015 and 2016.
Lucifer’s Friend released two further albums, Too Late To Hate in 2016 and Black Moon in 2019. Bassist Dieter Horns passed away in December 2020, followed by lead singer John Lawton passing away in June 2021, effectively ending the band.
The Lucifer's Friend song "Ride in the Sky" is played in the Bulgarian film Love.net , starring Lawton, as a song by a fictional band called Tabloid.
Tim Baker, lead singer of the doom metal band Cirith Ungol, cited Lucifer's Friend as an influence on Cirith Ungol's sound in an interview with Metal Forces, stating that "We really wanted to be like [Lucifer's Friend]". [10]
German Bonds (Includes Peter Hecht on keyboards and Dieter Horns on bass)
Bokaj Retsiem (Includes Peter Hecht on keyboards, Dieter Horns on bass and Joachim Rietenbach on drums)
Hell Preachers Inc. (Includes future Lucifer's Friend members Peter Hecht on keyboards, Dieter Horns on bass and Joachim Rietenbach on drums, guitar played by Rainer Degner and vocals by George Mavros)
Brother T & Family (Includes future Lucifer's Friend members, except John Lawton)
Electric Food (singer George Mavros backed by Lucifer's Friend members, without John Lawton)
Asterix
Pink Mice (Includes all original Lucifer's Friend members, except John Lawton)
Hepp, Hahn and Huhn (Includes Peter Hecht on keyboards and Dieter Horns on bass)
Okko Becker (Includes Peter Hesslein on guitars)
Propeller (Includes Peter Hesslein on guitars)
Frankie Dymon (Includes Peter Hecht on keyboards)
The Rattles (Includes Herbert Bornhold on drums)
David Frank Selection (Includes Peter Hesslein on guitars)
John Lawton (Includes all original Lucifer's Friend members)
Uriah Heep are an English rock band formed in London in 1969. Their current lineup consists of guitarist Mick Box, keyboardist Phil Lanzon, lead vocalist Bernie Shaw, drummer Russell Gilbrook, and bassist Dave Rimmer. They have experienced numerous lineup changes throughout their 53-year career, leaving Box as the only remaining original member. Notable former members of the band are vocalists David Byron, John Lawton, John Sloman and Peter Goalby, bassists Gary Thain, Trevor Bolder, John Wetton, Bob Daisley, Paul Newton, and John Jowitt, drummers Nigel Olsson, Iain Clark, Lee Kerslake and Chris Slade, and keyboardists Ken Hensley and John Sinclair.
John Cooper Lawton was a British rock and blues vocalist best known for his work with Lucifer's Friend, Uriah Heep and the Les Humphries Singers.
The James Last Orchestra was a German/multinational big-band orchestra. The orchestra was established in 1964 as a studio orchestra, led by jazz musician Hans Last. The orchestra started touring in 1968 and has been very popular worldwide. From 1965, Polydor Records named him 'James Last', as they thought the name 'James' would be more suitable for the international market.
Cirith Ungol is an American heavy metal band formed in late 1971 in Ventura, California. This early doom and power metal group is known for lyrics based on fantasy. The band took their name from the mountain pass Cirith Ungol in J. R. R. Tolkien's epic fantasy novel, The Lord of the Rings.
Frost and Fire is the debut album by the American heavy metal band Cirith Ungol. Its music is generally faster and more simplistic than that of King of the Dead, which saw the band begin to adopt a doom metal style influenced heavily by power metal.
King of the Dead is the second album by the American heavy metal band Cirith Ungol. It was self-produced by the band and released in July 1984 on Enigma Records. It was re-released in September 1999 on Metal Blade Records.
Lucifer's Friend is the first studio album by the hard rock band Lucifer's Friend, released in 1970. Lucifer's Friend would change directions multiple times on upcoming albums. However, the progressive and krautrock influenced proto-doom metal on this album lives up to the sinister cover.
...Where the Groupies Killed the Blues is the second album by progressive rock band Lucifer's Friend, released in 1972. Piano is prominent on most songs, and organ is used only on a few songs such as "Where the Groupies Killed the Blues", whereas on the debut album, Lucifer's Friend (1970), organ and guitars had been the driving force.
I'm Just a Rock 'n' Roll Singer is the third album released by progressive rock band Lucifer's Friend in 1973. This album marks the point where they completely turn away from dark lyrics and heavy metal sound.
Banquet is the fourth album by German progressive rock band Lucifer's Friend, released in 1974. By this time there was no hard rock sound, it was now strictly progressive rock mixed with jazz fusion. The song "Our World Is a Rock 'n' Roll Band" was the opening track on some versions of the original LP release, but the only CD releases to date do not include this track, which can instead be found as a bonus track on the Repertoire Records CD release of their self-titled debut.
Sneak Me In is the seventh album by Lucifer's Friend, an album in which Mike Starrs, formerly of Colosseum II, replaced John Lawton on vocals for a second time. This album and the previous Good Time Warrior (1978) were an attempt at a more commercial, accessible style which met with limited success. Starrs was replaced by the returning Lawton, for 1981's Mean Machine.
Good Time Warrior is the sixth album by Lucifer's Friend, an album in which Mike Starrs, formerly of Colosseum II, replaced John Lawton on vocals for the first time. This album and the following Sneak Me In (1980) were an attempt at a more commercial, mainstream style which met with limited commercial success. Starrs was eventually replaced by the returning Lawton for 1981's Mean Machine.
Mind Exploding is the fifth album by German hard rock band Lucifer's Friend. This album marks the point where they returned to a more hard rock oriented style with less of a progressive rock sound. It is more or less the missing link between I'm Just a Rock & Roll Singer (1973) and Banquet (1974); with the hard rock driven sound of the former, it still has the occasional horn section and progressiveness of the latter. This is the last album with John Lawton on vocals before he joined Uriah Heep. Lawton returned to Lucifer's Friend in 1981 to record the Mean Machine album.
Mean Machine is the eighth album by German rock band Lucifer's Friend, released in 1982.
Sumogrip is the ninth and final album by Lucifer's Friend before their reunion in 2014. This album once again displays the wide variety of styles Lucifer's Friend is famous for throughout their previous albums, living up to the "no album is the same" mantra. The band would stay together for a few years after the album's release before breaking up.
The Devil's Touch is the first of three compilation albums by Lucifer's Friend. This compilation collects some of Lucifer's Friend's best songs from their first album Lucifer's Friend (1970) up to Mind Exploding (1976). This compilation was released by Fontana Records in 1976. The other compilation would be released by Vertigo Records in 1980, which was called Rock Heavies: Lucifer's Friend.
Rock Heavies: Lucifer's Friend is the second of two compilation albums by Lucifer's Friend. This compilation collects some of Lucifer's Friend's best songs from their first album, Lucifer's Friend (1970), third album I'm Just a Rock & Roll Singer (1973), and fifth album Mind Exploding (1976). This compilation was released by Vertigo Records in 1980. This compilation is not as extensive as the Fontana Records release, The Devil's Touch (1976), in that it only includes three songs from Lucifer's Friend, one song from I'm Just a Rock & Roll Singer, and four songs from Mind Exploding.
Electric Food is the self-titled album of Electric Food, a studio project that included (uncredited) singer George Mavros with musicians from Lucifer's Friend that released two albums in 1970, the other being Flash. In 2004 Electric Food and Flash were released on one CD by Mason Records. Both Electric Food albums sound very similar to Lucifer's Friend's debut but include strong influences from Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep, and Spooky Tooth.
Flash is the second and final album by Electric Food. Soon after its release, the core of band formed Asterix and recorded one album: Asterix. Less than a year later Asterix would change their name to Lucifer's Friend. In 2004 Electric Food and Flash were released on one CD by Mason Records. Both Electric Food albums sound very similar to Lucifer's Friend's debut but include strong influences from Led Zeppelin, Uriah Heep, and Spooky Tooth.
Falcon is a California heavy metal band formed in 2002 by guitarist/vocalist Perry Grayson. Though active in the 2000s, Falcon's sound is throwback to the late 1960s and early 1970s, and they take their cue from luminaries like Blue Cheer, Black Sabbath, Trapeze, Budgie, Thin Lizzy, Pentagram, Mountain, Free, Bang, Captain Beyond and Buffalo.
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