Week of August 9, 1998
Revelation - 1970 BASF ORC 15/CD: Spalax 14510
Thoughts - 1971 PUZ20 21102-9/CD: Second Battle 047
Remember (Live 1973) - Garden Of Delights CD 095 (2004)
With "Revelation", the young heavy psychedelic rock group Virus produced one of best early progressive albums in Germany; indeed, it was a revelation! Their style was strongly influenced by Pink Floyd (David Gilmour) and Deep Purple (Jon Lord). The album had five long tracks. The title track included an instrumental classical adaptation of the Rolling Stones' "Paint It Black". Their instrumental work was even better on the 12 minute "Endless Game". The varied album also had a more hard-rocking track named "Burning Candle". Finally, "Nur Noch Zwei Lichtiahre" guided the listener into deep space, much like a mellow and matured "Interstellar Overdrive". The album was recorded in Star Studios, Hamburg and produced by none other than Konrad Plank. Virus were: Werner Monka (guitar), Jorg-Dieter Krahe (organ), Bernd "Molle" Hohmann (vocals, flute), Reinhold Spiegelfeld (bass) and Wolfgang Rieke (drums). The nickname "Molle" on the sleeve of "Revelation" was mistakenly connected to Werner Monka.
For "Thoughts" (1971), both Virus' sound and the band itself had changed considerably. Only Krahe and Rieke were left from the original group. Bernd Hohmann had left for Weed. The new members were: Axel Nieling (drums), Jurgen Schafer (bass, vocals), Bernd Rosner (guitar) and Werner Vogt (bass, guitar, vocals). Gone were the psychedelic space-rock and long instrumental workouts. Virus now played a more mainstream, rough and heavy blues-rock, not at all bad, but clearly inferior to their debut. They also contributed to the great Pilz album, "Heavy Christmas" (1971), before vanishing from the scene.
Taken from Cosmic Dreams at Play - A guide to German Progressive and Electronic Rock by Dag Erik Asbjørnsen, Borderline Productions, ISBN 1-899855-01-7