Achim Reichel has been in the music business for six decades. In his autobiography "Ich hab das Paradies gesehen" the unrecognized superstar now tells of his eventful life between beat, psychedelic dream journeys and poetry set to music.

If Achim Reichel had had a comparable career in Great Britain, the press would have described him with metaphors, honorary titles and superlatives such as "musical chameleon", "revolutionary" or "impulse generator for generations". In Germany, on the other hand, one usually only knows certain phases of his creative work. And perhaps the native of Hamburg is simply too nice and "volxnah" to demand the recognition he deserves. But perhaps this may now be made up for by his highly exciting life story, which has been published by Rowohlt.

eclipsed: You've broken new ground in writing your autobiography...

May 15, 2020 will go down in the long history of Pretty Things as a sad day: That Friday Phil May, who had been the singer and founding member of the band since 1963, passed away. Posthumously, "Bare As Bone, Bright As Blood" has now been released, a purely acoustic album of the Pretties. Guitarist Dick Taylor knows a lot about it.

eclipsed: Dick, do you see "Bare As Bone, Bright As Blood" as Phil's legacy?

Dick Taylor: Absolutely. It was very important for him to work on it. Making music and singing has helped him deal with his health problems and his condition. The album reflects his enthusiasm and hope. I hope that people will recognize his talent and his importance when they listen to it and that they will show him the appropriate appreciation.

eclipsed: You are known as a loud and dirty R&B band. Why a purely acoustic longplayer now?

Pete Way, founding member of UFO and influential bassist, unfortunately had other weaknesses besides music. In less than a year and a half, UFO's rockurge rocks recorded no less than three bereavements: On April 13, 2019, multi-instrumentalist Paul Raymond died of a heart attack during a tour break at the age of 73. Guitarist Paul Chapman passed away on June 9th of this year, his 66th birthday, and on August 14th, just one week after his birthday, UFO co-founder Peter Frederick Way died at the age of 69 from the late effects of a serious accident. This leaves only singer Phil Mogg and drummer Andy Parker from the line-up that recorded the most successful UFO album "No Place To Run" (1980).

The English progressive rockers, active since 1985, have made good use of the time of deceleration due to Corona: With a fat 3-CD version of their album classic "Following Ghosts" (1998), the brand-new release "When The Battle Is Over" by the side project Galahad Electric Company and the current solo CD of their guitarist Lee Abraham, entitled "Harmony/Synchronicity", the British are mobilising against loneliness in times of social distancing. While the Expanded Edition of "Following Ghosts" should have been released in 2018 for the 20th anniversary already, the other two releases were made directly under the influence of the Covid 19 lockdown

Collins is the prime example of a cosmopolitan: Born in London, Phil Collins' oldest scion grew up in Vancouver and Switzerland, and with his label he then moved into offices in New York and London. For some time now, however, he has settled in Ireland. He calls the Emerald Isle "his home" in a chest-tone of conviction. But one can guess what "journey" the 44-year-old has literally completed.

And this is exactly what is reflected on his fourth solo album "Becoming Human", the first one after twelve years: "It has become a very intimate album, perhaps my most personal", Collins says in the interview. "I've been thinking about a lot of things in my life over the last few years. The album represents my journey into the here and now. I let people into my life a little bit and hope to connect with them that way."

The music sounds gloomy, the singing like a cry for help. But basically the songs of the Icelanders are very positive, they are about how crises can be overcome. Anyway, a conversation with frontman Aðalbjörn "Addi" Tryggvason is a pleasant encounter with an optimistic person. And this although Covid-19 completely threw his band's creative schedule overboard. "Normally we follow the rhythm 'writing songs, recording, releasing, touring and promoting the album'. This time things were different. At first it took us longer than usual. In December 2018 we started the new album, gave ourselves a year to record. By the end of 2019 we were still not finished. You could hear from far away China that a virus was at work there. We sat together and composed, went into the studio in February and March. In the meantime the virus had arrived in Europe and everything was shut down. Actually, we would have gone on tour with the album now..." Bad for the band? "No.

In April, the four English Struts, who now all live in Los Angeles because the not unironic glam rockers are better received in the USA than at home, took up residence in the home studio of producer Jon Levine in order to record the third album "Strange Days" in ten days and under strict adherence to regular pool and beer breaks. We talked with bassist Jed Elliott.

eclipsed: Jed, for your new album to be called "Strange Days" and to be recorded in the first weeks of the Corona pandemic, it's really cheerful.

"Air" from 2009 was his last album release so far. After that it became quiet around the harpist, who - quite unusual for this instrument - even entered the US charts in the eighties. The Swiss nature lover with the angel hair never really could be classified. If you put him in the New Age range in the States, his incredibly positive, almost exclusively instrumental music always seemed too versatile and demanding for such a categorization and rather covers a range between world music, pop, jazz and neo-classic. Now he is back with the contemplative disc "Quiet Places", which is influenced by his novel "Im Spiegel der Venus".

eclipsed: Why did it take so long with a new album?

Andreas Vollenweider: One of the most important reasons was that I dared to write

eclipsed: What is your book about?