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Peter Eggers is a composer of passionate, powerful, emotionally evocative "visual music" in mixed genres: quirky instrumental rock, dark ambient electric chamber music, deliciously demented progressive fusion, strange cinematic soundscapes, playfully funky reggae pop, intricate classically-flavored Latin jazz, polyrhythmic melodic minimalism, shamelessly romantic tone poems, and edgy electronic contemporary music.
music tracks on MySpace:
Natural Disasters
Gerry Brown’s thunderous drums and John Lee’s booming bass make a mad dash to outrun the fury of David Rose’s whirlwind violin. An electrifying storm of notes, culminating in cataclysm.
Thrill Junkies
Drugs. Chocolate. Sex. Shopping. Pain. Pleasure. Money. Power. Danger.
Can’t get enough? What’s your rush?
Alien Dance Party
A close encounter of the funky kind.
Wishful Thinking
A positively smooth groove that shimmers and glimmers.
Dust to Dust
Music to die for.
Living on Dreams
Exuberantly melodic, a lilting latin daydream.
CD discography:
Peter Eggers - Extreme Measures
SolarGuitars
(recorded: 1975-1995 / scheduled for release 2008)
Far from normal, Extreme Measures mixes moody lullabies, weird waltzes, and bipolar hymns of bittersweet beauty with unnerving pulse-pounding percussive assaults on the senses. Unleashing forces of primal power and a feverish, frenzied intensity, these are nightmarish visions from over the edge. Churning chamber music of the heart from the dark night of the soul.
Composer (13 tracks)
Keyboards/percussion (13 tracks)
Peter Eggers - Wishful Thinking
SolarGuitars
(recorded: 1975-1995 / scheduled for release 2008)
Glass half-full, Wishful Thinking traffics in hopes and dreams, wishes and desires. Fantastic notions, small wonders, and simple pleasures combine with brief moments of perfect harmony to populate intriguing soundworlds and tuneful grooves. Positively user-friendly, it’s the calm before the storm of Extreme Measures.
Composer (15 tracks)
Keyboards/percussion (15 tracks)
David Rose - Distance Between Dreams
Piano Bass Music (PBME 01)
(recorded: 1977 / digitally remastered for CD: 2000)
Dark, dreamy electric chamber music alternates with beautifully complex, emotionally explosive tracks filled with torrents of notes flying from David Rose’s virtuoso violin and Christian "Basile" Leroux’s dazzling guitar. Distance Between Dreams is a classic album of French progressive fusion. Exquisite music, fantastically arranged by keyboard wizard Serge Perathoner, performed with passion and power by the gifted musicians of Transit Express.
Composer (4 tracks)
Keyboards (3 tracks)
David Rose Group - Live
Musea (FGBG 4391.AR)
(recorded: 1978 / digitally remastered for CD: 2003)
It’s an awesome, jaw-dropping, previously unreleased live performance, featuring David Rose on electric violin, with a "killer" band. The album is filled with thrilling improvisations, primarily based on compositions from David’s solo album Distance Between Dreams. The music is brilliant and timeless, unbelievably alive with excitement and energy.
Composer (2 tracks)
fred - live at the bitter end
World In Sound (WIS-1020)
(recorded: 1974 / digitally remastered for CD: 2004)
With strange unearthly chords floating over dark obsessive grooves, live at the bitter end is high-octane, aggressive electric instrumental music with Bo Fox’s pulverizing rock drums, Joe DeCristopher’s wailing gutsy guitar, and David Rose’s wild violin pyrotechnics. The mood ranges from tender to tortured, demented to delirious, always edgy, enigmatic, and full of surprise.
Composer (7 tracks)
Fender Rhodes (8 tracks)
fred - Notes on a Picnic
World In Sound (WIS-1016)
(recorded: 1973-1974 / digitally remastered for CD: 2003)
Bursting with an eclectic, eccentric diversity, Notes on a Picnic is adventurous, playful, and unpredictable, vibrating with a vivid intensity. The music features quirky melodies, intricate scored parts, tight ensemble playing, complex polyrhythms, sophisticated multi-tracking, and inspired rock improvisation. Furious fun, delightfully deranged.
Composer (7 tracks)
Keyboards (11 tracks)
Tenor sax (3 tracks)
Yoko Ono - A Story
Rykodisc (RCD 10420)
(recorded: 1973/1974 / digitally remastered for CD: 1997)
The lost album of the "lost weekend" of 1974. (When John Lennon returned from his "wild times" in Los Angeles, the tapes for this album were shelved). Finally got to hear what we played only 23 years later.
Fender Rhodes (1 track)
fred - fred
World In Sound (WIS-1003)
(recorded: 1971-1973 / digitally remastered for CD: 2001)
Mystical, trippy lyrics and heavenly vocal harmonies float over mesmerizing fuzz-tone guitar. Haunting lyricism combines with acid rock intensity. It’s an alluring atmospheric blend of moody art rock, exotic non-western scales, stunning psychedelic sounds, and European classical music. Curiously captivating.
Drums (2 tracks)
Fender Rhodes (1 track)
reviews: past/present
David Rose - Distance Between Dreams
...Distant Relations is a churning fusion barnburner that could have been left over from the Mahavishnu Orchestra’s Birds Of Fire album...the atmospheric Echoes features gorgeous electric piano and haunting violin...the best is saved for last with the explosive title track, which combines Magma/Mahavishnu Orchestra intensity...Distance Between Dreams is a monster of a solo album...
- Sea of Tranquility
...frenetic and burning progressive jazz-rock...Christian Leroux and David Rose perform apocalyptic and violent duels with downfalls of burning guitar notes, sharp and violent violin solos...
- Musea
...identifiable and forceful melodies that are beyond mainstream commercial music...Starset (For Bela Bartok) is breathtaking...dark piano and a plaintive violin sound create a tension that is rarely achieved with such little means...
- Ragazzi
...on the title tune, Rose springs long arching lines over the patterns of his rhythm section, which hurtles along with the precision and irresistible force of an express train...and Starset, which is dedicated to Béla Bartók, glows mellifluously...all around, an excellent record...
- Real Paper
...the fusion of art music and jazz, heavy on electronics, but used in a musical and intelligent way...worth the attention of new music buffs...
- Newsday
...the album closes with The Distance Between Dreams, an epilogue in the form of an apocalypse...
- Rock en Stock
fred - live at the bitter end
...white hot instrumental fusion similar to Mahavishnu Orchestra...simply blazes from beginning to end...killer guitar solos throughout...
- The Laser’s Edge
...impressive solos, sculptured unison passages, fantastic melodic escapades...a convincing adventure in sound full of immense power and sophistication...
- Ragazzi
...the group as a whole is to these ears more enjoyable than either the Mahavishnu Orchestra or the Billy Cobham band...in fact they are providing the kind of solid rhythmic electric music that I didn’t think existed in pop circles anymore...
- Soho Weekly News
...somewhere between King Crimson and the Mahavishnu Orchestra, the album is so powerful and playful that one is surprised it took 30 years to release these recordings...the sound is fresh, dynamic, forceful, and crisp...fred’s brilliant ensemble playing creates a witches’ brew of bubbling virtuoso interaction, while the more relaxed passages build tension for the next volcanic eruption...
- Babyblaue Prog-Reviews
fred - Notes on a Picnic
...the music on Notes on a Picnic is tight - really tight - like one would expect from a Frank Zappa recording...it is often fusiony in ways that bring to mind early Mahavishnu Orchestra (Variations could have fit perfectly on Inner Mounting Flame)...the overall album feel is both adventurous and cutting edge...I cannot compliment this band or recommend this album highly enough and am always struck by the fact that these are compositions from recordings made in 1973...for that year or any year, this is a first rate jazz-rock/fusion release...
- ProGGnosis
...a regional gem by the Lewisburg PA based art-rock band fred...
- George Graham, WVIA-FM 89.9 Wilkes-Barre, PA
...fine progressive rock...sophisticated original compositions that feature a remarkably accessible synthesis of rock rhythms with a classical sense of structure breaking into wide-open improvisational jazz sounds...Here’s a Wet One features a marvelously melodic vocal section and a super guitar/violin duet...and with all the musical diversity fred displays, there is a powerful rock bottom to all the music, especially Mantra...
- Record World
...powerful jazz/rock, unbelievably vital and energetic...multiple layers of melody unify in a fantastic way...the musicianship is outstanding...David Rose on the electric violin plays up a storm...
- Ragazzi
...fred combines jazz, classical, and rock for a set filled with instrumental invention and an excellent tight performance...
- Variety
...sounding much more European than American, fred developed a progressive instrumental style that drew on jazz rhythms and timings, borrowed heavily from orchestral composition and melted it into a (tastefully!) progressive rock framework...if you like European prog at its most incisive (even though they are American) then you will most certainly want to hear this...
- Shindig! Magazine
...one of the favorites among Prog Rock fans...
- Tom Gagliardi, Host/DJ at Gagliarchives Radio Philadelphia
...fred is a fun, cool, jazz/rock/fusion experimental band that was around the fringes in the late 60s/early 70s...it’s a rarity to find musicians so deeply bonded...sometimes seasoned and studio musicians can really lock with one another...fred takes it much deeper to a freedom that I would imagine many intuitive musicians long for…these guys are great, top musicians with their own sound…I enjoyed all of the songs, especially Perverseerance, Variations, and an obsessive favorite, one that will be on my fav list for at least the next decade, Mantra...it is simply perfect - the theme, the meters, the dynamics, the instrumentation, the composition - perfect...
- Countess B., Odd Time Obsessed Radio
my life in music:
Started with classical piano (age 7), added rock drums (age 10), and began studying improvisational jazz piano as well as rock songwriting (age 15). Played timpani in school orchestras. Began composing instrumental music in college.
1968-1970: Studied jazz with Rich Eisenberg
1970-1971: Studied serial composition with Thomas Beversdorf
1972: Graduated from Bucknell University with B.A. in Music
1972: Joined fred as replacement drummer/moved to keyboards
1973: Recorded at Blue Rock Studios (NY) with fred
1973: Recorded with Yoko Ono at Record Plant (NY) with fred
1974: Recorded at Blue Rock Studios (NY) with fred
1974: Rehearsed with Stan Getz for proposed album with fred
1974: Headlined at The Bitter End (NY) all summer with fred
1974-1980: Freelance musician (NY) playing keyboards in clubs and writing
music for modern dance companies
1975: Recorded at Electric Lady Studios (NY) with David Rose
1975: Rehearsed with Stan Getz for proposed solo album
1977: Recorded with David Rose at Le Chateau in France
1977: David Rose - Distance Between Dreams album released
in France by RCA
1978: David Rose - Distance Between Dreams album released
in USA by Inner City Records
1979: Composed 2 pieces for the album Worlds Apart by David Rose
1979: Concert of original classical Latin jazz with 9-piece ensemble in downtown Soho loft:
...The classical element is provided by the arrangements, which involve intricate harmonies and rhythms, many textural inventions, and some subtle doublings. The second ingredient comes from the two percussionists, who concentrate on Latin instruments and rhythms. The jazz can be heard in the piano work of Peter Eggers, and in the chord changes...the group was so tight, and its conviction so clear, that I found most of the evening irresistible, even in some of its most shamelessly romantic moments. And perhaps particularly at those times...
- Village Voice
1979: David Rose - Worlds Apart album released in France by RCA
1980: David Rose - Worlds Apart album released in USA by Millennium Records
1981: Produced/recorded compositions at Roxy Recorders (NY)
1982-1985: Compositions air on John Schaefer’s New Sounds radio program
(National Public Radio + WNYC-FM 93.9)
1983: Scored Dots Just Right, 1st Prize Winner in experimental dance
video, American Dance Films Association
1991: Scored FDNY: Brothers in Battle, a 45-minute cable TV documentary
on New York City firefighters for A&E Network
1994: Scored Song of Saul, a 16mm independent dramatic film
1995: Composed/recorded original music for 2 seasons of Martha Stewart Living, the nationally syndicated lifestyle TV series
1997: Rykodisc finally releases Yoko Ono - A Story, the "lost album" from 1973/1974 , partly recorded with fred
2000: World In Sound "rediscovers" fred and signs the band to release CDs
2000: David Rose - Distance Between Dreams album (originally recorded
1977) digitally remastered for CD by Piano Bass Music
2001: FDNY: Brothers in Battle released for home video by A&E
2001: fred - fred album (originally recorded 1971-1973) released by
World In Sound digitally remastered for CD
2003: fred - Notes on a Picnic album (originally recorded 1973-1974)
released by World In Sound digitally remastered for CD
2003: David Rose Group - Live album (originally recorded 1978)
released by Musea digitally remastered for CD
2004: fred - live at the bitter end album (originally recorded 1974)
released by World In Sound digitally remastered for CD
2005: Peter Eggers - Wishful Thinking album project (recorded 1975-1995), digital archive/edit at Video Arts (SF)
2006: Peter Eggers - Extreme Measures album project (recorded 1975-1995), digital archive/edit at Video Arts (SF)
2007: Found on MySpace by SolarGuitars who agrees to release both Extreme Measures and Wishful Thinking in 2008
special thanks:
Thanks to L.J. Kopf for most of the photos and cover art, and all the drawings and collages. For more of L.J.’s wonderful images, visit L.J. and fred on MySpace.
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