Leda

Welcome To Joyland

- Studio, released 1978 -

Cover

LP release Germany 1978
Design: Peter Butschkow

Tracks


		[a]
1.	Welcome To Joyland	3:56
2.	Endless Race	3:46
3.	White Clouds	4:48
4.	Movin' On	3:04
5.	City Of Light	4:17
6.	Space Ride	3:30
7.	Caroussel	4:30
8.	Future	3:28
9.	Stardust	3:18
Total running time		34:37

Details


Recording date	1978
Recording site(s)	Paragon Studios (Berlin)
Composer(s)	Peter Baumann (as Hacoon Mail), Hans Brandeis (as Cyril Claud)
Musician(s)	Peter Baumann (as Hacoon Mail), Hans Brandeis (as Cyril Claud)

Notes

Welcome To Joyland, the only album by Leda, is in fact a rather obscure production by Peter Baumann, though his name does not appear on the album at all. Welcome To Joyland is somewhat the missing link between the solo albums Trans Harmonic Nights (recorded in the same year) and Repeat Repeat (released in 1981), the former a highly melodic, yet instrumental album, the later some kind of electro-pop with vocals. Welcome To Joyland, with only some 34 minutes of running time, features very accessible compositions, very melodic and with nice female vocals. The instrumentation is very similar to that of Trans Harmonic Nights.

Two of the nine compositions were co-written by a certain Cyril Claud, in fact a pseudonym by German musician Hans Brandeis, the other are solo compositions by Peter Baumann, hiding behind the name Hacoon Mail. The name of the female singer is unknown.

In 2011, the LP was re-released as a limited "33 years anniversary edition" with 300 copies on black and 200 on clear vinyl. At time of writing, this album has not been released on CD, but there is an official mp3 download available (at Amazon, for instance).

The Anniversary Sheet

The 2011 vinyl re-release comes with an stamp-numbered insert with some interesting (and in parts quite amusing) notes by Hans Brandeis in German language. Below you find some excerpts roughly translated into English:

"[...] Peter Baumann had just backed out of Tangerine Dream and tried to organise his solo career. [...] Then financial difficulties arose. Peter Baumann had problems to pay the next retainage for the Paragon Studio that had just been equipped and set up. He had to get some money quickly. It was self-evident to do a new studio production. It had not to be something artistically demanding, there just had to be some music as fast as possible. Peter Baumann played to me I Feel Love by Donna Summer and asked me about my thoughts... arguably this should be very promising commercially... He wanted to do something similar: a sexy female voice, disco beat and electronic stuff. But the most important would be a composition with a catchy tune that could hit the charts... maybe I had some idea? So I messed around at Peter's synthesizer from his Tangerine Dream times for half a day until I got the first bars of Welcome To Joyland. The remainder of this track came quite quickly then... [...] The electronic-disco-project should have the name LEDA... everyone would think of the story of Leda and the swan... [...] Peter Baumann then looked for a different singer, whom I have never seen. I have forgotten her name meanwhile. [...] I for myself had no more time to care for the production. When I returned to the Paragon Studio after about a month Peter Baumann had mixed the whole production in a quick run. Time was really preying on his mind... Actually, the circumstances of this production were somewhat strange... The music was just too commercial both for Peter Baumann and myself, we both wanted to realise something more weird in our own projects, even though in completely different directions... Hence, we did not set a high value on our real names to appear on the cover. Thus Peter Baumann became 'Hacoon Mail' and myself 'Cyril Claud'... When I set eyes on the cover finally, I was amazed that even the name of the singer was not mentioned, let alone any information regarding the production. I asked about the intended promotion; how could anyone try to chart an album without even mentioning the singer's name... I was told, yes indeed, this was the very strategy... they wanted to create an atmosphere of mystery and stimulate the curiosity of the press by deliberately withholding information... Well, but that was a total flop then, no doubt."

(Click on the images to see a larger version of the respective sheet in a new browser window)

Releases


France	1978: Polydor LP: 2393 201; red label
Germany	1978: Metronome LP: 0060.122; black labels 2011: Private LP: 369.004; black vinyl; numbered insert; limited edition of 300 copies LP: 369.004; clear vinyl; numbered insert; limited edition of 200 copies