Ivory - "Sad Cypress" (1979), a krautrock masterpiece

Back in 1976, the group “Caressing Hands” was formed in Munich on the basis of two Munich student groups “My Sound” and “Pipedream”. The team was organized by keyboardist Thomas Sommerlatte from the group “My Sound”, who was passionate about progressive rock. But most of all, this group is famous for the fact that it performed wonderful progressive music and included Ulrich Sommerlatte (born in Berlin in 1914), who was invited by his son Thomas, immersing him in the world of this wonderful musical genre. 

Ulrich Sommerlatte is famous for being the conductor of the Hannover Symphony Orchestra at the age of 22, and later composing many pieces of music for radio broadcasts and films. In addition to father and son, the original lineup of the group included former members of Pipedream - bassist and flautist Charly Stechl, guitarist Horst Polland and drummer Fredrik Rittmüller. Subsequently, vocalist and guitarist Christian Mayer joined the group, in addition, Horst Polland was replaced by another guitarist Goddie Daum, and the group was renamed “Ivory”.

Having gathered together, it became clear that Ulrich Sommerlatte and his son Thomas Sommerlatte were responsible for composing all the musical material. The group performed a lot in concerts, developing its repertoire, but only in 1979 “Ivory” recorded their debut album “Sad Cypress” at the Lyrock Studios, owned by Ulrich Sommerlatte, and released it on the Jupiter Records label. In the year of recording this wonderful release, keyboardist Ulrich Sommerlatte was already 65 years old, therefore, having such a grandiose musical experience as a composer and musician, all his composed and performed music sounds very concise and consistent.

Musically, it is a mixture of classical music, psychedelia, symphonic music and progressive rock. Many critics hint at the similarity of Ivory with such groups as Camel, Yes, Eloy, Genesis, but still they had their own unique music with an original sound, quite complex and arranged with many rhythm changes and fabulous, pleasant melody.