Lucifer´s Friend-Banquet (1974)

The history of the German band Lucifer's Friend has been marked by diverse musical directions. They were never content to remain within a single defined style, but rather always preferred to explore new avenues with each subsequent album. They navigated brilliantly from the heavy prog of their roots to hard rock, passing through jazz rock, though always with a clear progressive perspective. In 1974, the band released their fourth album, "Banquet", where they moved away from the heavy sounds of their first two albums to delve into the realm of jazz rock, but without definitively abandoning their heavy rock roots. The compositions on this album remain powerful but with a different nature, partly replacing the sharp, dark guitar riffs with the sounds of electric piano, synthesizers, string instruments, and elaborate brass arrangements. Here, the guitars are more focused on solos than riffs, and the fact that pure hard rock is almost entirely absent does not mean that the overall tone of the album is any less powerful. Tracks like "Spanish Galleon" or "Sorrow" are a clear example of that orientation towards the realms of jazz rock, while "Thus Spoke Oberon" is closer to classic progressive rock, and in a similar tone appears the energetic and baroque "Dirty Old Town", with which they ended a muscular and forceful album, almost as much as any of the best hard rock albums of the time.

Lucifer´s Friend-Where The Groupies Killed The Blues (1972)

Following their fantastic debut, the German band Lucifer's Friend subtly moved away from psychedelic heavy metal to delve into the realm of progressive hard rock, following in the footsteps of British bands like Uriah Heep, Deep Purple, and Atomic Rooster. Their style here is based on a perfect blend of blues, rock, jazz, and avant-garde elements. The jazzy touch of bassist Dieter Horns, the sharp heavy rock guitar of Peter Hesslein, the massive and ingenious organ sound of Peter Hecht, and the soaring vocals of John Lawton noticeably enrich the musical palette of this legendary group. On this second album, ironically titled "Where The Groupies Killed The Blues", released by the British label Vertigo in 1972, Lucifer's Friend adopted a more progressive approach, with abundant use of keyboards (piano, Mellotron, Moogs, and Hammond organ), orchestrated passages, and extended instrumental developments. All of this is reflected in tracks like "Hobo", "Rose in the Vine", "Mother", "Where The Groupies Killed the Blues", "Summerdream", and "Prince of Darkness", which also showcase Peter Hesslein's blistering guitar work, giving the album a crushing and heavy final sound. Along with their self-titled debut album and "Banquet," released two years later, "Where The Groupies Killed The Blues" is undoubtedly one of the high points of progressive hard rock.