Fusion Transfusion from Switzerland, 1984 [review only]

Shockingly good fusion in the truest sense of the word blending together all the streams of human musical invention, the warmth and rhythms of jazz with the intelligence of classical composition and the excitement of modern popular music, it's incredible that something so good can be so affordably excellent as you can see from the discogs page.

Valley of the Giants uses flute and strings to create an atmosphere of anxious tension before the classic Mahavishnu electric guitar arpeggios in diminished chords patterns the dialectic between powerful forces, like evil versus good, like Trump versus 7 billion other humans, dissonance at war with beautiful music:





It just amazes me how these composers add the string touches with such ingeniousness to add color to the whole.  To me, the basic fusion composition would be so similar to an Asia Minor or perhaps Alain Markusfeld by the numbers guitar track without that extra ornamentation that just knocks it out of the ballpark right against the lobe of my external ear.  Ouch.

Notice that the composers are flautist Philippe Racine and guitarist Wolfgang Paul (who wrote the above).  Strangely enough neither produced much more music than this stunning masterwork.  What a shame!

For a taste of Racine's work, consider the track a bit embarrassingly titled (nonetheless brilliantly composed) but highly atmospheric, Moondance:






Notice that it was recorded live in 1981 but not released for three years (thank god it was!!) and that the orchestra here is from Basel.

Many many thanks to the friends and contributors who are still willing to help me in this rarefied quest to find beautiful music completely forgotten by our fellow men/women... and look out for this one...