Hear My Cry

Description

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 by Achim Bosch at Spygel Studio in Kirchheim/Teck, Germany; August 1980 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.

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