About the bands history:
Walter Seyffer founded the group Nine Days' Wonder as early as
1966.
Four years later the line-up was:
Walter Seyffer (lead vocals, drums, percussion),
John Earle (sax, flute, guitar, vocals, from Ireland),
Rolf Henning (guitar, piano),
Karl Mutschlechner (bass, from Austria!) and
Martin Roscoe (drums, from the UK).
They recorded their first album NINE DAYS WONDER in the Dierks
Studio, January 1971 with the Hauke & Dierks team.
This was a fine example of more bizarre German progressive rock,
clearly inspired by King Crimson, Frank Zappa, Soft Machine, Traffic,
Family and Deep Purple. They presented long, complex suites of
heavy progressive riffing, jazz fusion, large amounts of free
improvisation, neck-breaking shifts of tempo and general insanity
on tracks like, "Morning Spirit" and "Stomach's Choise" A fine
achievement, if a little difficult to get into.
The original German issue of the album came in a green foam-rubber
cover designed by Walter Seyffer. lt surely qualifies for the
top ten list of the craziest sleeve designs ever made!
John Earle's talented sax and flute work was particularly notable.
When the original Nine Days' Wonder disbanded in 1972, he went
to England and joined Gnidrolog (you can hear him on the classic
album Lody Lake). Martin Roscoe drummed for a while in 2066 &
Then. Seyffer joined Michael Bundt's band Medusa.
In December 1972 this band suddenly turned out to be the new Nine
Days' Wonder:
Seyffer (vocals, percussion),
Bundt (bass),
Hans Frauenschuh (guitar),
Freddie Münster (sax, keyboards) and
Karl-Heinz Weiler (drums).
In July 1973 they recorded WE NEVER LOST CONTROL, which, understandably,
was totally different to the 1971 album: a ,straighter' progressive
rock album comparable to other Hauke productions like Epsilon,
Nektar or Message.
In 1974, Nine Days' Wonder went through further changes, ended
up as a quartet at last, consisting of Seyffer, Bundt, Rolf Henning
(guitar, bass) and Sidhatta Gautama (drums).
They recorded ONLY THE DANCERS in September 1974 in England with
the guests Dave Jackson (sax, flute, from Van den Graaf Generator)
and Steve Robinson (keyboards, ex-2066 & Then).
This was much more a straight rock song oriented album, with tuneful
and sophisticated compositions.
The last incarnation of this unstable group formed in the Summer
of 1975:
Seyffer & Gautama with Bernd Unger (guitar, vocals), Peter Oehler
(guitar, vocals) and Rainer Saam (bass).
Their album A SONNET TO BILLY FROST: (1976) was dismissed in the
music press at the time of release, but has proved able to stand
the test of time.
A kind of rock opera, it sounded strangely British (short, melodic
up-beat rock songs with some linked musical themes and clever
lyrics).
In the September issue of "Rolling
Stone" in 2020, "Billy Frost" was found among the
50th. world's most underrated albums in rock history.
(Thanks Rolling Stone! Sometimes it just takes a little time when
you are ahead of your time...).
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