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about this album
Originally released only in Austria by the ProDisc label. Apparently only 1,500 copies made, and in the 1990s original copies fetched $500 (Nowadays, I’ve seen copies turn up for way higher on EBay and other outlets, one for over $3,000) Eela Craig is one of the best known progressive rock bands came out of Austria, given the country did not have a big prog rock scene (Kyrie Eleison and Paternoster are a couple other examples). In 1971, they released their self-entitled debut, with a different lineup than their better known late ’70s releases (1976′s One Niter, 1978′s Hats of Glass, 1978′s Missa Universalis, and 1980′s Virgin Oiland). Keyboardist Hubert Bognermayr, bassist Gerhard Englisch, and guitarist/flautist Harald Zuschrader are teamed up on this debut recording with guitarist Heinz Gerstmair, vocalist Wil Orthofer (who also handle sax here), and drummer Horst Waber. You can tell this was a band with a split personality, as Bognermayr, Zuscrader, and Englisch preferred progressive rock, while Orthofer, Gerstmair, and Waber preferred jazz and blues (in fact these three would shortly leave, only to have Othofer return around 1977). And it shows in the music too. OK, so the production isn’t the greatest, but then this is a band just starting, so don’t expect the professional polish of later albums. This album really is very different from the Synth / Mellotron dominated albums they did in the late ’70s. Wurlitzer electric piano and Hammond organ are the only keyboards use
