Neuschwanstein-Alice in Wonderland (1976)

Neuschwanstein was a German progressive rock band formed in the early 1970s in the town of Volklingen, near Saarbrücken. Their name comes from the famous castle of the same name, commissioned by King Ludwig II of Bavaria in honor of Richard Wagner. In their early years, this band, led by Thomas Neuroth and Klaus Mayer, focused on performing covers of progressive rock classics by artists such as Rick Wakeman, Yes, and King Crimson. By 1974, the band had begun to gain some recognition in their home country, opening for other German rock bands like Lucifer's Friends and Novalis. Two years later, they recorded their first album, "Alice in Wonderland," a conceptual and instrumental album with narrated interludes. The lineup that recorded this album included Neuroth and Mayer (both on synthesizers, keyboards, and flute), drummer Hans-Peter Schwarz, bassist Rainer Zimmer, and guitarist and narrator Roger Weiler. Echoes of Camel, Rick Wakeman or Genesis are interwoven with grand atmospheric passages, symphonic music and dreamy melodies that leave us with an album with a carefully and brilliantly executed classical background.