Ramses "La Leyla" 1976
Hanover, Germany based Ramses were formed in 1972 as RAMSES II. The next year was spent touring and performing original pieces and cover versions. This was also a period of several personnel changes. Their big break occurred in 1975 when they signed with the fledgeling Sky Records and shortened their name to Ramses.
They recorded their first and most acclaimed album "LA LEYLA" in barely a week in Conny Plank's studio. It measured up to the contemporary works of ELOY, JANE and NOVALIS among others. Apart from the title track and "Someone Like You", the album included the anti Vietnam war piece "War", which was deemed too controversial in the US and replaced with "Noise" there, using the same melody and arrangement.
In 1978 they followed with another fine album "Eternity Rise", which was also well received and promoted through touring, a highlight being the 11 minute title cut with martial drums. Then lead singer Herbert Natho quit for health reasons and the group undertook a lengthy search for a replacement. After a period of transition they settled on Matthew Moeller, who actually had a more mainstream voice as the group positioned itself more commercially for 1981's "Light Fantastic", recorded at ELOY's "Horus Sound" studio.
Like many 1970s prog bands, RAMSES was unable to maintain momentum into the 1980s, and have only released one album since 1981, that being "Control Me" in 2000, which has never been easy to find. According to their website, another studio recording is planned, but it is unclear for how long that has been the case.
It's really strange that this band isn't as famous as other giants of 70' progressive rock. I suppose their biggest problem was lack of "momentum". In 1976 progressive rock music started to significantly lose it's popularity in favor of punk rock, disco and other horrible creatures of late 70' music scene... If "Ramses" started his career few years earlier, now they would be equally famous as other German prog bands like Eloy or Jane and maybe even as popular as Yes or Genesis...who knows?
- Hans D. Klinkhammer / bass
- Norbert Langhorst / guitars
- Winfried Langhorst / keyboards, vocals
- Herbert Natho / vocals
- Reinhard Schröter / drums, percussion