Welcome was a Swiss symphonic-rock trio that released a 1976 self-titled album on Columbia.
Members: Tommy Stebel (percussion, acoustic guitar, vocals), Bernie Krauer (keyboards, vocals, 1975-80), Francis Jost (bass, vocals, 1975-77), Helmi Erdinger (bass, 1978-80), Jean De Anthony (guitar, 1979-81)
Formation
Welcome formed in 1975 in Basel, Switzerland, where multi-instrumentalists Francis Jost and Tommy Stebel teamed with multi-keyboardist Bernie Krauer.
Welcome
Welcome released their self-titled album in 1976 on Swiss Columbia. The album contains five group-composed pieces with lyrics by outsider Verena Drauer.
Francis Jost plays guitar, bass, and tuba on Welcome, which has drummer Tommy Strebel multi-tasked on tubular bells and 6- and 12-string guitars. Bernie Krauer’s arsenal contains organ, mellotron, Minimoog, electric piano, and grand piano.
A1. “The Rag-Fair” (9:55) opens with stately
A2. “Dizzy Tune” (7:35) opens with phased cymbal mist, steamrolled by Hammond.
A3. “Glory” (3:49)
B1. “Chain of Days” (9:53)
B2. “Dirge” (12:33)
Sessions occurred in the winter of 1975/76 at Aquarius Studios in Geneva, where Chris “Snoopy” Penycate engineered Welcome in sequence with albums by Pulsar (The Strands of the Future) and the solo debut by Patrick Moraz (The Story of i).
In 1978, Tommy Strebel played on Patrick’s self-titled third solo album. Meanwhile, Francis Jost cleared for bassist Helmi Erdinger.
A1. “Music Is Life” (5:23)
A2. “Seasons” (4:50)
A3. “Join the Party” (3:25)
A4. “ELF” (7:25)
B1. “The Whip” (17:05)
Sessions occurred at Aquarius, where engineered and mixed
Discography:
- Welcome (1976)
- You’re Welcome (1979)
Sources:
Artist/Album Pages:
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Original draft, March 2018:
Welcome were a Swiss rock trio active from the mid-to-late 1970s. Signed to the local branch of Columbia Records, the band released its homonymous debut LP in 1976.
With the members tackling at least four instruments each, contrapuntal density is displayed across the album’s five tracks.
Trebly, frontal bass and tenor unison harmonies frame “Chain of Days” — a terse epic where brimming Mellotron passages segue to blocks of organ chords amidst persistent downbeats. Minutes later, open-cadence streams of mini-Moog give way to interlocking bars of bass and toms before the band join as one for a renewal of the song proper.
The strummed acoustics that guided the harmonied first third of “Dirge” halt for a towering organ sustain. Midway, Stebel’s cannonball toms accent Jost’s voluminous lyrical leads. Open cadences with further percussive aplomb are coated with Krauer’s Moog/Mellotron arsenal to the fadeout.
A monstrous Hammond steamrolls the cymbal/phased mist that opens “Dizzy Tune,” which passes through dirgy monotone chants before bursting into a sequence of martial-tinged bass/snare/church organ passages. Elsewhere, the relatively brief “Glory” showcases the band’s harmonies with stripped acoustic accompaniment.
The rhythmically-charged organ procession that opens “The Rag Fair” is broken intermittently with light Moog/Mellotron refrains. Things intensify as Jost and Streble fight to lock this number into a crammed-note snare roll. Minutes of harmonied open cadences presage a rhythmless valley of ‘tron at song’s middle. Krauer beams and pierces from his analogue banks amidst the aggressive, angular basslines that measure out the final third.
Swiping Jost for Erdinger, the band issued You’re Welcome on the German Babylon label in 1979. The prior year, Strebel also appeared on the self-titled third album by globally renown Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz.