Widee Open N-Way

DAY OF PHOENIX hails from Denmark and was formed in 1968. The first line-up consisted of native english singer/guitarist Cy Nicklin, drummer Henrik Friis plus Ole Prehn, Karsten Lyng and Jess St?hr - all three ex-members of a band called 'The Maniacs'. During the early days they released the single 'Tell me / I think it's gonna rain today' and wrote one soundtrack before Nicklin suddenly left to join the band 'Culpeper's Orchard'. Tony Reeves - bassist of the early Colosseum band - was the producer of their first long player 'Wide Open N-Way'. It was recorded in Copenhagen and is pointed out as the jewel of the band's musical history. With new vocalist Hans Lauridsen and bassist Erik Stedt substituting St?hr they worked out an ambitious psychedelic based album with references to the US West Coast style. Additionally provided with folk and jazz elements it has a reputation nowadays in the progressive rock scene and is receiving excellent reviews. 1971 the next single 'Deep Within The Storm / Chicken Skin' followed. And then DAY OF PHOENIX fall apart because Erik Stedt died unexpectedly. The band had to be reorganized with the remaining Prehn and Lyng. After the split of Burnin' Red Ivanhoe Ole Fick, Jess St?hr and Bo Thrige Andersen joined to record the new album 'The Neighbour's Son'. Compared to the foreunner it contains shorter and more plain rock songs and is frequently evaluated as a disappointment. St?hr, Fick and Anderson went on to rebuild Burnin' Red Ivanhoe afterwards. 1979 the danish sublabel of swedish Sonet Grammofon reissued both DAY OF PHOENIX albums as a 2LP release followed by a Universal Music digitally remastered version in 2000.