Here's a wonderful find / suggestion, very Zappalike but all-instrumental, classical and furious fusion, setting aside the silly titles, artist name, and album names. Sparse information here, also missing the later 2 releases. At times it reminds me of my old US Egg-imitation favorite, Radio Piece III, with the hammond organ being upfront a lot of the time, even a bit of ELP influence. A lot of dissonance, rhythmic changes, and abrupt transitions, furiously aggressive riffs-- though I'm not too crazy about the silly astronomy / physics references in the song titles (e.g. 'Antimatter of Fact') which detracts a little from the whole.
Consider the first track from the first album which is the discogs-listed Bubbledroid one, Saturn's Orbit:
Surprisingly for this kind of late-version fusion, there are acoustic guitar tracks in there as well, though not many of course.
Equally shocking to me was the imitation Hatfield track called New Sheen, starting completely appropriately with a tritone, but notice how in the midpart of this (2-minute) song, there is a gorgeous transition with backwards chords that is followed by a very typical Dave Stewart-type keyboard pattern--what a shock:
Note the level of complex composition, with definitely some Bartok / Strav influence plus fuguelike patterns, on Avant Particle Piece from their 3rd:
So what exactly is the story of this (20 years old already) band? At least its moniker is unique enough it's easy to locate some more information.
Progarchives says,
Clay Green's Polysorbate Masquerade Band are an instrumental band consisting of Green on acoustic and electric guitars, who also organises digital transmission, and drum machine, affectionately known by the band as the Bubbledroid. He is joined by Edward Richard who plays bass, organ and other keyboards. The band have produced 2 albums with similar material, "Chronicles of Bubbledroid" and a collector's edition of this album is also available with extra songs. Green explains, "We had the original two-track masters redone and we've added a whole bunch of bonus tracks. The entire collection is just under eighty minutes, and it's really been an enriching experience to put it all together."
The band describe themselves on their websites as instrumental Progressive Rock presented in the style of the Early 1970's, with gritty organs, wah-wah guitar, intricate arrangements, and differing time signatures. The band pride themselves on not taking themselves seriously, and at first glance at their website, that features Italian for no reason, and the third member known as Bubbledroid, actually a synthesized drum machine, the band seem to be a parody. In an interview Green makes some cynical comments such as, "I'd describe our sound as a blend of Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come and Van der Graaf, maybe some PFM? but just the music parts, no singing of course" and "We like to think that we have something to contribute to our global society, and we've been experimenting with putting low-volume secret messages in our music, to boost sales of course."
Despite all these quirky touches, the music speaks for itself which is well performed and will appeal to those who like Camel, Focus, or other keyboard dominated instrumental music.
When you listen you'll realize they are way off the mark, it's not at all like Camel, Focus, PFM, VDG. On the other hand, ELP is definitely an influence, but I think also Canterbury bands like Egg.
I was also shocked that the basement denizens of rym didn't give it higher ratings, since I thought it was really good, deserving a 4 or 5 rating, from me. Good thing I'm not a part of that odd conglomeration.
A more appropriate, to the point review:
This is another one of those CDs where I had no idea what to expect. A weird title from an even weirder band name and one I had never heard of before. The band consists of two musicians; Clay Green (acoustic and electric guitars), Edward Richard (bass, electric guitar, organ, keyboards) and Bubbledroid (DNA sequencing, arrangements, drums and percussion). In case you were wondering, Bubbledroid is the name of the duo's drum machine.
If you dig instrumental progressive rock ala the '70s, with a dash of bands like Van Der Graaf Generator, King Crimson and Gentle Giant, sprinkled with a dusting of jazz fusion, you will probably want to hear Chronicles Of Bubbledroid. It may not be an instant classic but the musicianship is there in spades and the songs are well executed. Both guitar and keyboards get equal billing with some excellent lead and rhythms throughout the disc. I did find it somewhat amusing when Green states in the liner notes "And keep in mind, the best part of the Polysorbate Masquerade Band is that It's completely instrumental!" Yes, progressive rock does have its share of iffy vocalists!
The tracks vary in length from less than a minute to over eight with many being of the shorter variety. Some of the shorter tunes, like the intriguing "Sixty-Eight" with its pulsating bass line I wish were developed a bit more musically. In other words, some of these tracks end too quickly.
The album begins with "Saturn's Orbit", a nice slice of jazzy flavoured retro prog. Included are some biting guitar lines and pretty cool bass as well. The guitar work is very good, as it is on the entire album. The album also has some pretty good melodies such as "Dry Suites 94" featuring a sweet keyboard motif and excellent organ work. Another highlight is "Time Sun" with its delicate acoustic guitar, exceptional organ play and off kilter electric guitar patterns.
At over seventy-nine minutes long and eleven bonus tracks, the album may be a bit long in the tooth, but for the most part Chronicles Of Bubbledroid is a fine listen and am glad to have made its acquaintance. Recommended for fans of instrumental progressive rock with a heavy '70s flavour.
I'm thankful they did have the courage and heart to make these albums. For us on this blog of course this is manna from heaven in a godsend all in one package or rather 3. Would be nice if we could hear some more output now more recently. Here's the 68 track referenced above, which features some really odd chord changes, it reminds me a lot of the US keyboard classics as I said like Radio Piece III or maybe Happy The Man, or the recent (and fantastic) Earthrise release I put back here:
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