In 1996 Manfred Ehlert and Marc Storace released the PopRock album "Aguilar" as a two-man team. It is influenced by Storace's "KROKUS" story and a lot rockier than the previous album "Amen": PopRock from two hands and one voice.

​

The title "The Magic of K1", which had been produced for the K1 world champion Andy Hug, who had become a samurai in Japan and died much too early in 2000, became the K1 fight anthem, which is still used in training today Athlete is used. The title "Atlanta" is published for the first time. It was composed for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, but was never published.

​

Special bonus track "Make My Day" (Loveland version) with Glenn Hughes, whose vocals were recorded in 1989 for the 1994 album "Amen" and newly staged by Manfred Ehlert with new arrangements at half-time.

Vocals: Marc Storace. All instruments & programming: Manfred Ehlert. All texts written by Storace / Ehlert.

Manfred Ehlert recorded the instruments at home. "AGUILA" was mixed and produced in 1995/96 by Manfred Ehlert and Donald W. Richards in his Nighttower Studios at the foot of Mount Pilatus near Lucerne.

 

Sculptor Skulpur: Roland Nadig,

Sculptor photographer: Sandro Diener

Cover remake: Sebastian Hugelshofer

Shortcut video: Jörg Hennecke

 

Personal note:

 

In 1995 Donald's studio was expanded and programmed by him so that the 4 digital mixing consoles, sound modules, effects and the digital recording machines could be synchronized with each other and all settings made could be saved. Everything that almost everyone today can do almost free of charge in their Mac notebook with the appropriate software at home, all of that had not only cost a fortune at the time but, as written, meant hundreds of hours of programming, tests, crashes, frustration, happiness etc. Donald was a pioneer here and ingenious in his way. He provided me with one of the 3 digital 8-track hard disk recorders on which I recorded all basses and guitars on 6 tracks at home. I played all keyboards and the drum rhythms in the Atarie 1040 computers, which then ran synchronously with the machine. This data and the recorded tracks were then fed into the sound modules and digital machines in his studio, the vocals recorded and then everything mixed. This time the studio worked very well except for a few crashes. Once again the problem was the night work: How many times did we mix the songs until the early hours to find out the next night before the start of the next session that the mixes from the previous night were not really good. Reason: To really be able to hear all the subtleties, you should be well rested. My full-time job only allowed me to start work after 8:00 p.m. until early in the morning. Exactly. At some point the healthiest body or the most alert ears are tired, 3 to 4 hours of sleep are not always enough…. But one day we finished. The "aguilar", or as new now without an R, since eagle is actually called "aguila": the eagle could finally learn to fly.

​

A few words about Marc Storace and "Aguila"

​

After the first cooperation with Marc Storace on the 1st AMEN album (release 1994), where this great singer could prove his impressive versatility, the first talks for a 1st comeback with album of his main band Krokus were already running in the background, where I was allowed to represent him as a friend to his fellow musicians. In 1995 the album "To Rock Or Not To Be" was released, the first album since Storace's departure from the band in 1988. 

 

This album as well as feedback from fans on the 1st AMEN album, some of whom had some trouble with Marc's voice in this kind of musical environment (at that time "Crossover" was not yet widespread and the musical tolerance of the fans was not yet as great as it is today), led to the follow-up album "Aguila" becoming more rocking than its predecessor. This was not really in line with the AMEN project concept that unusual voices move on musically different paths than usual. Interesting hint: In 1996, when hardly anybody had a mobile phone or a digital camera, it wasn't common that the complete drum kit wasn't played live but programmed on a drum machine. This was only recognized by real experts, but nevertheless there was criticism for it. In the meantime there are mobile phones, digital cameras and many productions where only drum machines and/or music computers are used.

​

Apart from the fact that in 1996 rock music in general had a very hard time, for this release came the fact that shortly after the release of "Aguila" the distributor of our Swiss label in Germany went bankrupt. So the album did not take place on one of the most important markets in the world, which also prevented other countries from releasing the album at all. So "Aguila" (eagle) did not only stand for a species threatened with extinction, but had crashed and died in this case. So musicians can't prevent others from doing their job just as well despite hard work.

​

Survived the friendship with Marc, this very lovable musician and person with his heart in the right place as well as with his dear family. 

 

PS: If you want to hear the whole spectrum of Marc's voice and love his voice, you should definitely listen to this (and the "Amen") album, because the songs are timeless and Marc's vocals are in absolute top form.  And by the way: They are also damn good songs... bonus: A special Loveland version of "Make My Day" from the 1994 album "Amen" with Glenn Hughes on mike. The vocals were recorded in 1989.

 

PS2: In 2008 the Krokus comeback took place with the almost original cast. Since then the band is touring the world on their "Good by Amigos" tour successfully and in top form. What a worthy conclusion to a crazy band career. Marc will release his first solo album in 2021. I am looking forward to it.