Hear My Cry is the debut album by the German rock band Semaja, released on Wind Music in 1980, manufactured by Sonopress. The album was recorded August 1980 by Achim Bosch at Spygel Studio in Kirchheim/Teck, Germany; with Manfred Wieczorke producing. Mixed at UTV Studio in Hannover, Germany.
If you followed Christian rock in the mid-‘80s you might have noticed an album by the German group Semaja called No Burning Out, released to the American market by the Refuge label. That was a great little record, but this earlier Germany-only release is even better. Hear My Cry features seven lengthy cuts (five in English, two in German) in a sharply produced ‘70s progressive classic rock setting. They’ve earned a few comparisons to Santana for their Latin percussion coupled with long stretches of organ and electric guitar, faithfully expressed here on cuts like the high-energy «Big Noise». Side two has a couple songs clocking in at seven-and-a-half minutes: «The Wind» and the slow-churning Pink Floyd-ish «Jesaja 53» (i.e., ‘Isaiah 53’). Other titles: «Sometimes» (with funky bass and synthesizer), «Hear My Cry», «Jeden Tag (Jesaja 55)», and «This Life». Unusual cover art shows a figure in a loincloth looking at a setting of bread, wine and fruit in a jungle. Back side shows a junked car and a broken doll in a burned-out apocalyptic landscape. Lead singer Markus Egger was also a member of the group Eden and has an earlier solo LP. [Ken Scott, The Archivist, 4th edition]
LP tracklist:
Side One
A1. “Sometimes” – 4:35
A2. “Hear My Cry” – 4:30
A3. “Jeden Tag (Jesaja 55)” – 6:45
A4. “This Life” – 4:12
Side Two
B1. “Jesaja 53” – 7:35
B2. “The Wind” – 7:35
B3. “Big Noise” – 5:52
Note: Simultaneously released on cassette and 12-inch vinyl LP by Wind Music. Later re-issued on CD.
