Night Sun

Biography by Eduardo Rivadavia Manheim, Germany's Night Sun were a heavy rock group with progressive tendencies, which originally evolved from a late-'60s jazz band called Take Five. Temporarily calling themselves Night Sun Mournin', bandmembers Bruno Schaab (vocals, bass), Walter Kirchgassner (guitar), Knut Rossler (organ, piano, trumpet, bassoon), and Ulrich Staudt (drums) soon dropped the last word and used it as the title of their one and only album, Mournin', which emerged through Polydor's Zebra imprint in 1972. Produced by respected engineer Conny Planck, the album's eclectic brand of organ-laced hard rock received many a positive comparison to big-league contemporaries like Uriah Heep, Atomic Rooster, and Germany's own Lucifer's Friend. Maybe it was too eclectic, though, because minor local success was all that Night Sun ever achieved before breaking up in 1973, with no further recordings to their name. Frontman Schaab would gain additional recognition when he briefly hooked up with Krautrockers Guru Guru, but the rest of Night Sun's membership quickly faded into oblivion -- unlike the Mournin' LP, thankfully, which became a much sought-after cult favorite among hard rock enthusiasts.