Week of April 8, 2007
Personnel:
Ole Prehn - guitars, vocals
Karsten Lyng - lead guitars
Hans Lauridsen - lead vocals
Erik Stedt - bass, piano, saw
Hendrik Friis - drums, percussion
Jess Stæhr - bass, vocals
with:
Kenneth Knudsen - piano
Peter Friis - double bass
Albums:
Wide Open N-Way, 1970 Sonet SLPS 1519; Greenwich (a Decca subsidary) GSLP-1002,
UK & Germany
CD: Repertoire REP 4439, 1994
Neighbour's Son, 1972 Sonet SLPS 1549; Chapter One CHS-R812, UK
Both albums reissued as a double-LP on Sonet SLP 1620 in 1979 and on CD - SON
159 635-2, 2000 (Universal Music A/S)
The group was formed in 1968 by Cy Nicklin along with Prehn, Lyng, Jess Stæhr
Nielsen (all three were ex-members of the beat group The Maniacs) and Hendrik
Friis. During the early days they released one single and wrote the soundtrack
for "Stine Og Drengene", before Nicklin left to join
Culpeper's Orchard.
With new vocalist Hans Lauridsen, Day Of Phoenix recorded their first album in
Copenhagen with Tony Reeves (of
Colosseum) as their producer. Their sound was an
unusual (and highly ambitious) mixture of influences from the US West Coast
(particularly Grateful Dead's "Anthem For The Sun"), rural folk-rock and the
jazzy sound of Denmark's Burnin' Red Ivanhoe. This doesn't hang together too
well (the two tracks beyond 10 minutes are partly disjointed free-rock) but the
concept is so original that it's still well worth listening to. After the first
split of Burnin' Red Ivanhoe, Ole Fick, Stæhr and Andersen joined a re-organised
Day Of Phoenix in June 1972. Their new album, "The Neighbour's Son" was a
disappointment with plain rock songs that lacked spark and energy.
Ole Prehn later formed Phantom Band with a couple of ex-members of Mo-I-Rana.
They played rural rock in the Neil Young vein (including a cover version of
"Cinnamon Girl").
Taken from Scented Gardens of the Mind - A guide to the Golden Era of Progressive Rock (1968-1980) in more than 20 European Countries, by Dag Erik Asbjørnsen, Borderline Productions, ISBN 1-899855-12-2