The Leeds based group formed in 1988, when Doris Brendel (lead vocals, flute, acoustic guitar), first met music instructor Markus Waite (keyboards) in 1988, while attending Leads University and busy on the side playing solo acoustic gigs. Markus invited her to join his band, which at the time was an instrumental progressive act called Telefunken U47. Keeping members Martyn Wilson (guitar) and Andrew Fox (bass), they shed the saxophonist, replaced the drummer with Sean Holborn to make the final line-up and the group then became the Violet Hour.
In 1990, Following numerous showcases in London and finding a manager (Ricochet Management), The Voilet Hour recorded 5 demos and signed with SONY (then called CBS). They recorded their first and only album "The Fire Sermon" produced by Pete Brown, which was released in 1991, consisting of songs primarily written by Markus Waite. The group then embarked on a series of short tours, notably with Nils Lofgren and John Farnham to promote their debut single "Falling".
The Fire Sermon was released by EPIC in August 1991 and the single "Could Have Been" came shortly after. The group toured with Marillions Holidays in Eden for several months across Europe. In 1992, the typical story of drugs and egos lead to Doris Brendel leaving the band to strike out on her own. TVH found another singer and Doris went on her own writing and recording a number of songs, then the recession hit and a large number of bands were purged from the major record labels, including both acts.
The Fire Sermon was quickly withdrawn by SONY and became very hard to get a hold of since, becoming quite a collectors item. The album has now just been re-released for the first time in September 2009 by Sky-Rocket Records, and includes the B-sides as bonus tracks.
The music on the "The Fire Sermon" has been previously noted by others to be hard to define. In addition, to being labeled as uniquely original and ahead of it's time. Some refer to it as being pop on one hand and grunge on the other, while others refer to it as a combination of pop, folk, prog-rock, and most recently it has been called "Dream Prog", which might be the best description. I agree it is difficult to classify the music as any one specific genre given the wide range of elements encompassed. However, I don't feel that Innovative and originality, or ahead of it's time are terms that I would entirely associate with this album.
"The Fire Sermon" was not recorded and released until 1991. The body of work in retrospect is quite solid and possess excellent skill and creativity with some sophisticated hybrid techniques delivering a fabulous sound of their own with some unique qualities, but the music itself is quite timeless in both sound and style. Clearly present are peculiarities of some of the elements from previously recorded material from earlier predecessors dating back to as early as the tail end of the 60's and early 70's, as some of the English rock bands such as Genesis, among others including Fleetwood Mac, Jethro Tull, Janis Joplin and the list goes on, who all began pushing rocks technical and compositional boundaries of this similar style in attempt to elevate music to new levels, and in doing so the songs shifted in new directions from the simplicity of the relatively short and simple melodic pop-rock, to more conceptual and abstract cutting edge lyrics, with advanced amplification, sound improvisations, moody keyboards and strong vocal performances in lengthier sets, developing a more advanced harder driven form of music which became known as prog-rock, which actually became most prominent in the early 70's.
Some of the elements that separates "The Fire Sermon" from being labeled as prog-rock , is the songs consists of highly melodic pop lyrics that are less abstract, delivered over a mid tempo. In addition, some of the songs have beautifully orchestrated symphonic elements. On the other hand, separating it from pop, is the lyrics are performed in a more edgier and sensual manner, with carefully arranged and dreamy compositional qualities delivered with a strong cutting edge, making the music more grungier and sultry in comparison to the simplicity of the happy upbeat lovely pop melodies.
Nonetheless, "The Fire Sermon" is an excellent album. Doris Brendel's crisp sultry vocal performances are top notch all the way, while the instrumentation is carefully orchestrated with precision timing and plenty of it's own unique and enhanced qualities and specially cultured effects, that when all combined delivers a powerfully impacting and phenomenal performance, producing some of the finer elements of the progression of music over the years, making this album a truly enjoyable musical experience, that can easily be classified under a few different genres, appealing to a very wide range of audience. Highly recommended!
Reviewed by: Jan (editor)
Track Listing: 01 Dream Of Me 02 The Spell 03 By A River 04 Could Have Been 05 Offertory Song 06 Falling 07 Hold Me 08 Ill Wind Blowin' 09 The House 10 Better Be Good 11 For Mercy
Bonus Tracks 12 In Control 13 Haunting You 14 Cross The Line
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