Twenty Sixty Six and Then -

Twenty Sixty Six and Then were a German symphonic/hard-rock band that released the 1972 album Reflections on the Future on United Artists.

Members: Geff Harrison (vocals), Gagey Mrozeck (guitar), Steve Robinson [Rainer Geyer] (keyboards, vibraphone, synthesizer, Mellotron, vocals), Veit Marvos (keyboards, vibraphone, synthesizer, Mellotron, vocals), Konstantin “Konni” Bommarius (drums), Dieter Bauer (bass)

Background

Twenty Sixty Six and Then formed in May 1971 in Mannheim, West Germany, where British expatriate singer Geff Harrison teamed with guitarist Gagey Mrozeck and local rhythm players. Their name referenced the 1066 Norman Conquest of England and the Battle of Hastings, with the added millennium suggesting a projected future.

Harrison (b. August 8, 1946, Salford) sang first in Mancunian beatsters The Chasers. His next band, Some Other Guys, toured US military bases in Germany, where they situated as I Drive and cut the 1969 two-part single “Classic Rigby,” an interpolation of the Beatles classic “Eleanor Rigby” with Beethoven’s 5th. He left I Drive long before their album and partnered with Mrozeck (b. January 14, 1951). Their new group included bassist Dieter Bauer, drummer Konstantin Bommarius, and keyboardists Steve Robinson (aka Rainer Geyer) and Veit Marvos, who alternated organ, Mellotron, electric piano, vibraphone, and synthesizer.

Reflections on the Future

Twenty Sixty Six and Then released their singular album, Reflections on the Future, in January 1972 on United Artists.

Reflections runs on sustained intensity and dense instrumental layering, with most tracks built around rapid pacing, abrupt sectional shifts, and extended solo exchanges. “At My Home” opens with forceful organ and guitar figures locked to an insistent rhythm, establishing a compact structure that cycles between guttural vocal passages and short instrumental surges. “Autumn” stretches into a longer arc, beginning with restrained keyboard textures before expanding into heavier passages marked by alternating tempos and repeated thematic returns.

“Butterking” moves through unpredictable turns, opening sparsely before erupting into stacked keyboard lines, jagged guitar phrases, and sudden piano-led detours that interrupt the forward drive. The title track occupies the album’s center with a long-form construction that alternates tightly synchronized riffs, extended instrumental runs, and brief collapses into softer textures before rebuilding momentum. “How Do You Feel” closes in a reduced form, slowing the pace with sustained keyboard tones and vocal lines that temper the album’s otherwise relentless motion.

A1. “At My Home” (5:02) – Mrozeck, Robinson
A2. “Autumn” (9:05) – Robinson
A3. “Butterking” (7:20) – Harrison, Robinson

B1. “Reflections on the Future” (15:45) – Marvos
B2. “How Would You Feel” (3:21) – Marvos

Sessions occurred in late 1971 at Dierks Studios with owner Dieter Dirks, who engineered Reflections in sequence with titles by Bröselmaschine, Epsilon, Gila, Hairy Chapter, Haze, Hölderlin, Jeronimo, Krokodil, Message, My Solid Ground, Nektar, Nine Days’ Wonder, Tangerine Dream, Wallenstein, and Witthüser + Westrupp.

Freiburg art student Günter Karl illustrated the cover: a surrealist patchwork of beasts, birds, and landscapes forms a single human-animal hybrid profile, set against a barren alien plain with floating planets and a butterfly. Each stacked creature element morphs into the next, suggesting layers of evolution, extinction, and cosmic absurdity.

Soon after this release, Konstantin Bommarius jumped ship to Abacus in time for their 1972 third album Everything You Need. He surfaced later in Karthago.

Postlude

In March 1972, Harrison and Mrozeck reconvened with Bauer, Robinson, and Marvos, plus flutist Wolfgang Schönbrot and ex-Orange Peel drummer Curt Cress. They recorded two new songs: “I Wanna Stay,” a lurching, swelling, bluesy guttural hard-rock number; and “Time Can’t Take It Away,” a spinning, harrowing melodramatic epic with poignant lyrics. Midnight Circus bassist Davy Crocket deputized Bauer on “I Wanna Stay.” Both tracks feature backing vocals by American-expat singer Donna Gaines, two years before her emergence as Donna Summer.

Twenty Sixty Six and Then disbanded before a second album reached completion. Gagey Mrozeck joined Kin Ping Meh in time for their 1972 second album No. 2 and stuck through that band’s duration. Geff Harrison joined for their 1973 release 3 and juggled Kin with guest appearances on albums by Demon Thor and Tritonus. His solo album, Salford, appeared in 1976 on the German Nova label with Mrozeck on four tracks. In 1980, he released Money Talk, a synth-rock album with Supermax drummer Jürgen Zöller, ex-Release Music Orchestra percussionist Tommy Goldschmidt, and ex-Rainbow keyboardist Tony Carey.

Dieter Bauer joined Aera and played on their 1975 debut Aera Humanum Est. Steve Robinson played with Aera during their pre-contract Mechelwind period and joined Nine Days’ Wonder for their 1974 third album Only the Dancers. He cut a 1978 solo album, It’s a Lie, with NDW bassist-turned-synthesist Michael Bundt and played on the latter’s subsequent solo albums.

Veit Marvos joined Munich brass-rockers Emergency for their 1974 fourth and final album No Compromise, which contains a theatrical cover of “Time Can’t Take It Away” sung by Peter Bischof, who performed alongside Harrison on Demon Thor’s Written In the Sky album.

“Butterking” appears on Progressive German Pop Experience 2, a 1973 United Artists comp with cuts by Amon Duul II, Can, Embryo, Krokodil, Niagara, and Improved Sound Limited.

Reflections on the Past

In 1991, German archivists Second Battle issued Reflections on the Past, a collection of archival tracks by Twenty Sixty Six and Then.

Spread across three sides, Reflections on the Past contains two extended alternate versions of “At My Home” from the original album, plus six unearthed tracks from the 1971–72 period, including the two long-vaulted tracks with Donna Gaines. The cover features a variation of Karl’s artwork with the creatures faced in the opposite direction, reflecting the title reversal of the original album (Past instead of Future).

A1. “At My Home” (7:50)
A2. “The Way That I Feel Today” (11:11)

B1. “Spring” (13:00)
B2. “I Wanna Stay” (4:02)
B3. “Time Can’t Take It Away” (4:40)

C1. “At My Home” (9:27)
C2. “Winter” (7:25)
C3. “I Saw the World” (4:42)

Twenty Sixty Six and Then recorded the first three tracks on June 23, 1971. The tracks on Side C, including the longest version of “At My Home,” stem from a May 3 session.

In 1994, Second Battle issued Reflections, which compiles three tracks from the original Reflections on the Future—“Autumn,” “Butterking,” and the title track—with sides A and B of Reflections on the Past.

Discography: