LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

Originally released privately in 1975, Broken Door is the sole album by Prosper, a progressive rock group from Bottrop in Germany’s Ruhr region. Twin electric and acoustic guitars are combined with Fender Rhodes piano, Mellotron, Mini-Moog, bass and drums, producing a restrained but richly layered sound.

The album moves between psychedelic atmospheres, melodic progressive rock and occasional jazz-rock passages. Longer pieces such as “Beginning,” “Dance of an Angle” and “Where the Sun Touches the Water” develop gradually through changing guitar and keyboard textures, while the shorter vocal tracks add folk-influenced and reflective contrasts. This Garden of Delights reissue presents the complete original album with an extensive illustrated booklet devoted to the group’s history.

1. Beginning – 7:10
2. Burning in the Sun – 2:10
3. Broken Door – 3:20
4. Dance of an Angle – 6:45
5. Your Country – 5:30
6. Birds of Passage – 5:10
7. Master’s Inspiration – 1:30
8. Where the Sun Touches the Water – 7:30

Edition: CD reissue with 28-page illustrated booklet

Original release: 1975