Clareon from California,1980... Yet Another Progressive Fusion masterpiece...

A little puzzled about the spelling here, a Clarion is of course an instrument, but why the replacement 'e'?  No sign of an answer when reading the back cover.  The composer here is Ron Madden, middle row right, with a contribution from another only on one track, "Baby Song."  In the incomplete release information on discogs, he doesn't appear, and a database search doesn't offer much.  Turning our attention to rateyourmusic instead, even less, other than to note Moroni the famous collector already owns a copy, not unexpectedly... At 156 years old, he has definitely accumulated a lot of experience in music...

All of which serves to introduce the statement that this is really a stunning oeuvre, from beginning to end.  It covers all the expected bases of fusion, funky dynamics, chamber music (including a clarinet duo with piano, I refer to "La Belle Jardiniere"), and intricate explorations to a space of musical composition where no man has ever gone before.  This might be compared to the German band Exil's Fusionen but sans the folky pirouettes and ethnic fiddle-faddle, purely a kind of experimental fusion album based on the smooth American style of Landress-Hart for ex., clearly created by a man who studied composition probably at Berklee in Boston as they all seem to have done... (On a recent road trip there when purely by happenstance I drove by the building on Newbury St. I was tempted to run in to absorb some of that gorgeously advanced music the folks in there were probably playing in (pianokey) ivory tower bliss, of course it could not have been, because my insane young kids were with me, and because a security guard would surely have thrown me in jail-- this was not long after the Boston Marathon bombing.)

Let's consider just the first track, which is quite progressively entitled "Neo-Cisum" (presumably a nonce word):





It starts with a languid sax figure but quickly jumps into the progressive aspects, modulating from E minor into G minor and then jumping from one key to the next-- notice how the sax now states a whole-tone scale based on C7.  Each passage is different as the song moves forward-- one of the hallmarks of progressive songwriting.  Beautifully though it kind of wraps itself up by restating the introduction like a Kekule benzene ring.

The third track called "Divisadero" has hints of french progressive fusion (think Transit Express) despite the funky beginning which only lasts a minute or so, and is almost like a symphony in its many changes, moods, and tempos-- trust me when I say don't give up on this track, listen to it all the way through; while the last track "Visitation" I have to wonder whether it is a homage to the great Pekka Pohjola.

At any rate the whole album is full of interesting surprises and invention, it's sure to sustain the attention of the most jaded progressive fan for quite a while... A remarkable discovery.  For which I can't take credit: this find was made as usual by my friend the Grand Nebula... all my thanks again...
And please try to secure a copy of the record while it's still cheap, as I did, unlike the over-hyped Landress-Hart's Dancing Moments.


Wonderfully, there is a small humorous poem inside the record written by Craig Lawrence (the saxophonist) and Ron Madden (how odd the two collaborated on a poem), the drawing is from Craig:

Two packs

of barking pigeons

fought the desperate Dean Turkey

They then began to move

in the groove

of the phoney dog bone

"In the latter days

the sons of disobedience

will melt waxed army man warship"

cried the pigeons as they flew over flaming gasoline clarinets.

Suddenly

a gigantic embryo of belt loop

scratched upon a dry bug of hitchhiking debris.

Blue watermelon light

shown brightly in the night

as the pigeons were in flight

raspberry jam!!

Summer time wintertime anytime delight!

A green plastic barbarian cactus

loomed over the sweat of Dean Turkey's vacation,

casting shadows of rubber roadrunners

on pine tree ventilation.

Shipping over

embroidered oceanic principles

the gray barking watermelon pigeons

discovered a resume of handlotion thermostat,

Diving deep

into fathomless entryways

they came upon gelatin clothes hampers

empty with dry icebergs.

Swallowing their cement block journey

they then proceeded to resolve their tupperware disputes.

Fantastic, I love it!

Reissue of William S. Fischer - Akelarre Sorta Hiru (Originally, 1972) [No Download Available!]

First of all notice how bizarrely atrocious the original cover was:

And it seems this album was reissued in 1973 with a much improved and groovy cover:

And this is the 2005 reissue from Spain, shockingly, perhaps the best cover art of the three:

Returning to the reviewing portion of the show for a moment, I wanted to rave a bit about this astonishing little pearl discovered by my friend the Grand Nebula.  First of all read what this seller from discogs has to say about it.

"Weird and obscure as they come. In 1972 arranger William S.Fischer lands in the basque country and produces some funky reinterpretations of popular basque folklore songs and dances, all around the theme of witchery and covens (Akelarre). As crazy and weird as it may sound, this Lp is virtually unheard of in collector’s circles. How the musical director for Atlantic Records and arranger for Wilson Pickett, Roberta Flack, Les McCann, Eugene McDaniels, Herbie Mann and countless others got involved with this project is up to everyone’s guess.

However what he comes up with is really astounding, a funky as hell workout which will get you screaming for more. Killer go-go psych soul which defies categorisation: tight rhythm section, open drum breaks,funky as Hell guitar leads, groovy flute, weird electronic sound effects and moog bits (most likely courtesy
of Walter E.Sear, who gets a mention in the original liners) alternate with more stylish moments; think Terry Callier or Blaxpotation Soundtracks of the era like Marvin Gaye's Troubleman and even some fusion styled groovers. Fans of his funky jazz rock cum electronics masterpiece "Circles" (released by the Embryo’s
label in 1970 and feaured on Mojo’s "50 Most Out There Albums of All Time" list won’t be deceived, for he shows here the same masterful sense of groove and orchestration but in a more danceable, not so avant-garde context. An unknown record that deserves to be brought back to life in this limited, hand-numbered reissue of 500 copies."

What you may not trust in this description like me because of the salesmanship is that this is a formidably enjoyable record, not only for the progressive / library fan, but also for those out there and I know they are legion who love the funky breaks and groovy beats and so on.  And for those who are familiar with (and love!) the masterpiece avant-fusion album "Circles" from 1970 (and released to CD in 2003) this is indeed the same composer involved here, as I found out much to my shock.  I say this because the style is so utterly different.  If anyone knows about his 1973 album called "Omen" described as avant-garde, experimental, please mention in comments below.

Notice the alternative release info on discogs from 1973, incidentally.  It seems on examining the tracklists they left out 2 songs off the reissue.  (Which is what I have available to me.)  Anyone know about those two missing tracks????

You can hear a few samples on youtube, thanks to the uploader (s):
The first track which is very representative: Bat Bi Hiru Lau
Guera De  (ignore this link if you hate ads on youtube like I do)

Please note that this would not at all be qualified as an expensive vinyl thanks to the reissue.  Fantastic album anyhow, strongly recommended.

In attempting to find William S. Fischer's picture (which does grace the cover of Circles), how tragic is it to see that wiki doesn't have him...

Dreamworld's Gates to Eternity are opening up

I didn't have very much to post for this Monday morning or even this week, so I thought it would be a good idea to finally share a rip of this gem, given the apparently high demand for it.  Despite that I still have the vinyl in my basement sitting and waiting like a guest that just won't move out and never pays me rent... damn that guy...

Seems like such a long time ago when I first posted it, and it is, a half year ago...

PS A quick note for those impressed with the recent "Spaces" fusion masterpiece-- believe it or not, another quite stunning utterly unknown American fusion from about the same time will be posted here this week-- stay tuned for that one.  Not even Tom knows about this one ;-)

This album has been requested frequently in the past, presumably due to the popularity of the preceding "On Flight to the Light" which is relatively easily available already (so much so that I put it down below).  In terms of musical quality this is slightly more commercially oriented and more in the "standard eighties" style.  What is interesting to me is that, as you can presume from the title, the whole record seems to be a positive story about not fearing death, I guess thanks to the power of religion, though the artists don't quite come out and state it.  And this was long before Deepak Chopra and Oprah!  Notwithstanding this, I felt compelled to buy the record to investigate its possibilities and am therefore now awaiting a buyer to take it off my hands.

It seems to me very lucky for anyone to have so much faith in an afterlife that they can laugh off the very idea of death, which instead within my mind causes apoplexies of anxiety and a paralyzing kind of mental catatonia, so much so that I can really do nothing but force the idea out of thinking.  But very very late in the night, at 'the witching hour,' perhaps at 3 o'clock in the morning, I often wake up sweating and thinking about the certainty of annihilation at some point in the future, and it becomes so impossible to sleep or think I remain awake for hours. Then a few beers are sometimes employed for their therapeutic value.  In the morning I invariably say to my wife, 'no matter when you die it will always be too soon' to which she invariably rolls her eyes.  Yet when she discovered a lump in her breast last year she also was awake many nights in cold sweats, I would then occasionally callously say, so you really are as afraid of death as I am... and this time the answer was, of course!   So often it appears to me that those claiming they are impervious to this terror are merely suffering from a failure of the imagination-- because there are very few individuals who would not be terrified when faced with the imminent and real face of death made actual in front of them-- e.g. in a serious car crash.

To me, that sums up the entire issue: those who claim not to be afraid are either truly religious or suffering from a defect in meta-imagination. But it's hard to imagine the universe without one's own existence, perhaps even impossible, and this really compounds the problem greatly.  In quantum physics a failure of imagination in dealing with such paradoxes as the wave/particle duality is often helped by the use of analogy, actually in most advanced mathematics this is the case, and I think the same thing should be done when faced with the idea of the world without oneself.  As a parent of course the minute I imagine my young boys' reaction to my death it's enough to terrorize me into eating vegetables all day and exercising at the gym.


I sampled the first track for you, "Lady Sunrise," it's relatively representative:

Jean-Claude Camors - Strates (France, 1987?)

It reminds me a lot of the last album of Noco Music, which is why I assigned the year 1987 to it, for there is no such temporal assignment on the actual record.  Camors of course was the C in LBC Trio and it was noted at that time his propensity for odd singing was a little annoying.  Equally so will this installment be for those who didn't appreciate it in the past, like myself.  It's because the "Baobab" album was so good that I thought I should seek this out, one of the last from this trio of musicians I hadn't heard yet.

Sample track, one of the few actually listenable, called "Un Siphon:"

Spaces - Border Station from 1981, United States

     Is it possible there could be so many masterpieces out there still, after all the many years we have spent collecting records?  Yes, it for sure is possible, and even certain, as Tom Hayes has observed on his cdrwl.  If you were not familiar with this heretofore, you shall be convinced of the truth of the above position after familiarizing yourself with it...

     A very inexpensive record but as we know, cost is apparently tightly correlated with quality when it comes to old vinyl-- in an absolutely inverse relationship: the priciest unknown albums being the most disappointing for the most part.  These guys sound very much influenced by Canadians FM but stripped of vocals (and violin of course) and any song-like structures.  From beginning to end we get a really powerful blast of warm, synthesizer-stuffed, electric fusion that smashes through the stratosphere like a Saturn rocket.  (Wait-- make that "Long March Rocket" as really it's now the Chinese who are preeminent in space exploration-- I love that photo of the homecomers with pink bouquets and plastic garden chairs.)

     Notice right from the start that mysterious first chord, which I believe is a minor with added 9th and major 7th (i.e., E minor with a B major chord on top), subsequently the song becomes quite deliriously major, I hate to use the cliche 'rollicking'-- a word which when applied to music quite drives me nuts.  (But it's a short drive anyways.)  The titles display a touch of twisted humor: "Sperm race" and "Airplane Glue"...

Strongly recommended!