Harlequin Mass s/t
Typical of late 70s American prog/pop, Harlequin Mass had some painfully obvious commercial moves that really drag down the album, highlighted by the atrocious lyrics to “New Song” (”Ahh’m singin’ a new song bay-beee”) . In fact that it was reissued in Italy on Mellow is not a surprise as the dreadful lyrics may have been overlooked. Musically it’s a blend somewhere between Yes and Renaissance, but while Renaissance had a sort of understated elegance to the music, Harlequin Mass are about as sublime as a kick to the head. I found myself more annoyed with this as I revisited it. I might have thought a lot differently had I not understood the lyrics as they kept throwing me out of the record with the clumsy and cliche rhymes. The positives are some nice guitar work and a few interesting arrangements, however those searching for original ideas aren’t likely to find anything close here. I knocked it down to a 5, but it had an irritating quality that might have made it worse had I needed to hear it again.
Germinale - …E Il Suo Respiro Ancora Agita le Onde…
I’m not a big Germinale fan, although this title could be the best of their releases. Stylistically they’re a rather elegant and melodically pristine symphonic rock group, which makes their Van der Graaf cover late in the album almost shocking with its intensity. Germinale have something of a gentle feel to their music, a sound almost entirely indigenous, one is occasionally reminded of Banco’s arrangements or the romanticism of Allusa Fallax or Locanda delle Fate. It’s entirely this sense of beauty and grace that is likely to split listeners, as I think a bit of bite here and there wouldn’t have hurt, like I said earlier the VDGG cover almost felt like a natural part of the Germinale album, that is if one was looking for some sort of peak. Anyway I brought this to a 9 which is a natural grade, one that might not make a later cut, but I think there’s a sort of sense of freshness here that doesn’t hurt.
Little Feat - Waiting for Columbus (deluxe ed)
In all my years I’ve probably only heard one or two Little Feat songs, which is rather inexcusable overall. This deluxe ed of their live album is often considered their classic, and it was easy to see why right off the bat, a definitive 70s rock style with touches of southern rock, country and a bit of Steely Dan too. What struck me is that there’s a lot of good songwriting here, for an album chock full of pieces I’d never heard, I was really drawn into a lot of this, in fact the last time I had a similar experience was listening to the two Big Star albums. Perhaps its something of a classic rock comfort level here, but I enjoyed the hell out of this and was kind of surprised when the final disc ended and my changer went onto the next one, something that rarely happens to me at such a length.