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The Virgin's Dream

Virgins Dream "The X-Tapes 71-72" VIRGIN'S DREAM were a band that played lots of gigs in and around Essen/Germany during 1968 to 1972, but did not release any studio-album. The only recordings were private live-recordings of a concert in 1972 and 2 demo-studio-recordings. This tapes were discovered by a former friend of the band some years ago. The tapes were restored and mastered as good as possible and now is released as the one and only CD of VIRGIN'S DREAM ... nearly 30 years after they have parted ways. The sound of the CD is not really studiomade, but it does not matter ... on the one hand it perfectly fits the 70ies atmosphere, on the other: the music is great enough. Let's turn back time into the late 60ies / early 70ies. Flowerpower and progrock with psychedelic inclinations. Compared to other bands of that time, VIRGIN'S DREAM did not make the mistake of throwing away their compositions by endless psychedelic loops. VIRGINS DREAM often used the silent tunes to give soul to their songs. It's a disaster, that songs like Der blaue Kapuzenmönch, The well, The galant knight have rotten on a tape, locked away from society for such a long time. This (call it) re-release is limited to only a couple hundred items, so you should better be quick and get yourself a copy of this great 70ies prog/flowerpower document !
 
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Charly Weißschädel - bass
Jazzy Rüger - guitar
Rolf Trenkler - piano, vocals, guitars
Theo Marpe, Frank Pieper - drums

History of the virgin's dream

THEY ARE AMONG US ! No, we don't talk about aliens, because their existence no longer is a mystery since the Roswell-plane-crash in 1947, but if one is willing to give believe to the statements of some top-scientists and even of an former US-Army-general that the development of chip-, laser- and lightwire-technologies only was possible through examinations of earthcrashed UFOs, than they probably even play a part in that delightful event that is reported here. Without the possibilities of the digital world it would probably not have come to the rebirth of the German flower-rock-legend: The VIRGIN'S DREAM - by publishing their long forgotten live-recordings on CD. The X-Tapes !
 
The Virgins first saw the light of day as "virgin's Blue dream" in Essen, Germany, at the beginning of 1968 founded as a blues-band, but actually they never played the old blues, for at that time a lot of new exciting and unforeseen musical developments shattered the rockmusicworld, that practically no one in the business could escape, not even a bit honest (and boring) band like the Beatles. Their album Stg.Pepper still today delivers evidence of that. And so the Virgins too made themselves up to sail to yet unexplored musical shores. The biggest part on this development probably had a certain Dr. Hofmann, who in 1938 discovered by incident a chemical compound that showed some really strange peculiarities and, starting about 1965, began to enjoy rapidly growing popularity among young people under the name of lysergicaciddiethylamide - LSD25. But better….
let's stay with the Virgins !
They made their first steps to world fame in the youth-centers of their hometown Essen and pretty fast they grew out off this scene and got to be known outside the cityborders, what at that times wasn't that easy. Millions of bands shot like mushrooms, and there were a lot of clubs, festivals and concerts in which the bands could present themselves. But Virgin's Dream always were a tic more creative, complex, fuller of spirit and also technically better than others. At the sudden end of their carrier in 72, the band had reached cult-status in the area of Northrhinewestfalia, actually was on their way to be known all over Germany and a first album was planned. Unfortunately for the world it didn't come to that because bandleader and songwriter Rolf Trenkler decided to seek his luck on an odyssee that took him as a professional musician to Greece, with job offers to Persia and Lebanon and finally to New York City till 75.
 
The most astonishing with Virgin's Dream, was their unbelievable faithful group of devotees, the "virgin's Family". They never missed one single concert and so soon got to know each other. At that time everything was very spontaneous ( I still remember that bassman Charly Weißschaedel always had a string with a worn out toothbrush round his neck because bandlife was that unsteady and quick ) and if for instance, on Thursday a concert in Amsterdam was fixed up for Saturday, all the virgins-family knew it on Friday, and on Saturday everybody was on his way by train or by hitchhiking to Amsterdam. This family included some later well known artists in Germany, like the musicians Witthueser and Westrupp, Franz de Byl, Stoppok, Michael Juehlich, film producer Hanno Huth, world famous painter Martin Kippenberger or jazz-specialist and radio-announcer Michael Ruesenberg.
 
Virgin's Dream always were openminded to experimental new developments. So they probably were the first German band using a "psychedelic light-show" on stage. The main principle were 2 dia-transparencies where in between glas-colours and ether was filled. Through the heat of the projector-lamps bubbles of gas emerged that constantly changed forms, colours and speed and usually, if the band played loud enough ( what never was a reason to doubt on ) the bubbles even moved and exploded in rhythm with the music's beat and vibrations. About a year before their sudden end the Virgins employed a 5th bandmember, but unlike most other bands they did not decide to add a "real"-frontman or singer because their specialty were very long and outstanding improvisations that never got boring. (Sometimes they just played one piece of music during the whole set.) Instead - they got a "live-mixer" who could change their sounds and music using mixers, delays, panning or contributed sounds himself with tape-recorders, so he became an important part of the overall sound and music of the band. Unfortunately this very interesting way of performing never went on in rockmusic perhaps until today's DJs-mixing. Another story about experiments: On the band's group-foto You see "Calle Coin and Willili La Lange" (left + right, at the bottom), who were known in the virgins-family as : the "Dancers in Hope". The story behind that: In 1970 the band Hawkwind gave a concert in the Gruga-Hall of Essen with a chubby nude girl-dancer on stage. Of course all we young guys were strongly impressed and so the idea was born to create Calle and Willili as the Virgins-Dancers and by this heightening the Virgins presentations to an overall work of total art. But maybe thanks god, live on stage it never came to that.
 
Describing the music of Virgins Dream by comparing them to other bands is not that simple, because like every really good band they had their own incomparable style. The more melodic parts of their songs are a little reminiscent of the wonderful band Cressida, whose remains are two absolutely timeless records. Composer Rolf Trenkler was very touched by Cressida's singer Angus Cullen whom he saw on stage at Londons Marquee Club in 68. On the opposite side - the early Soft Machine were a main influence in Trenkler's music arrangements, with their experimental sounds and jazzy drive…….. and so, mainly being a guitarist, Trenkler also learned the e-piano, organ and later saxophone to play his compositions, because at that time one mostly could find guitar-players in the german rockmusic-scene. By the way: Cressida unfortunately disappeared about the same year from the public eye as the Virgins, and even more unfortunately both never returned.
 
Well, Virgins Dream were a real acid-rock-band by sound and style. To me they sounded nearest to early Quicksilver Messenger Service and Trenklers guitarplaying mainly resembled that of John Cipollina. The Virgins frequently played in Frankfurt and they were pretty much loved by the US-GIs stationed over there for their "american" sound that was rather unique for a german band.. And so Virgins Dream not only were an exception in the early 70's german rock scene - where most of the bands got stuck in the Kraut- music-style - but in the whole German-rock history and they are definitely worth a close listen!
 
Reinhold Horst 11/2000