ACHE “Pictures from Cycle 7”

Formed
1968, København, Hovedstaden, Denmark
Disbanded
1977
Members
Torsten Olafsson (bass, vocals, 1970-71), Finn Olafsson (guitar), Peter Mellin (Hammond organ, piano), Glenn Fischer (drums, percussion, sound effects, 1970-71), Stig Kreuzfeldt (vocals, percussion, 1976), Johnnie Gellett (vocals, percussion, acoustic guitar, 1976), Steen Toft Andersen (bass, 1976), Gert Smedegaard (drums, 1976)
Related Artists
Kashmir, Stig & Steen
Track listing

A1
Cyclus 7. Introduction

A2
Roses (Registering)

A3
Still Hungry (Vampire Song) – What Can We Do

A4
Still Registering

B1
Our Lives

B2
Last Part 1

B3
Outtroduction

B4
Last Part 2

B5
Expectation

In summer 71′ Ache dissolved, although keyboardist Peter Mellin had already started working on a new Rock Opera. Finn Olafsson focused on his improvement as an acoustic guitarist during this 4-year hiatus and in 1975 he along with Mellin gathered a brand new Ache line-up with Stig Kreuzfeldt on vocals/percussion and Steen Toft Andersen on bass, who were playing together on Stig & Steen a couple of years back, drummer Gert Smedegaard and guitarist/lead singer Johnnie Gellett. They played live for the first time during this year and recorded a third Ache album, titled ”Pictures from cyclus 7” (1976, CBS), which sees the band moving away from any kind of psychedelic influence and becoming more conventional, adding a few Pop elements in their arrangements. This is actually what I would call 70’s Art Rock, it sounds somewhere in the middle of the road between Supertramp (although not that cheesy) and Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (although not that heavy), with the emphasis now being on compact songwriting, efficient vocal arrangements and exhibition of different elements, a bit of Symphonic Rock to go with Barclay James Harvest’s Orchestral Rock, touches of Folk and striking Pop Rock. A bit of a letdown for the change of direction, but, after all, this is 1976 and things have changed dramatically for most bands playing Prog Rock. Ache still managed to sound melodramatic and challenging through a storm of easy-going tunes, adding lots of Classical interludes, introducing synths next to the Hammond organ and trying to combine pleasant vocal tracks with quasi-epic instrumental parts.