Synopsis - Minuit Ville
An album like this takes me back to the early 90s and the original slew of Musea reissues, most of which were highly anticipated by symphonic rock fans. There’s something distinctively European about this take on progressive rock, even if the closest analogs to Synopsis might be Yes or Genesis (or even Ange or Atoll). Synopsis have to be credited with creating a rather amazing atmosphere with very little. Production elements are poor on all accounts, I don’t usually even notice this but the crash cymbal was starting to irritate by the end of it, closer to banging sheet metal than a Zildjian. But overall there’s something about an album like this that captures an essence of the Euro-symph scene that I often forget about. Something archaic and spacey, even nostalgic in a certain way. Add a rather delicate feel, almost like if you were to disturb it it would blow away like dust, with the warbling (and occasionally Tiny Tim-like) vocalist and the omnipresent string synth and you have something almost approaching definitive French prog rock. Overall the draw to this record seems to be the ambition at play, a desire to play this style of music at just about the wrong time financially. It’s funny, but despite having mentally left the progressive rock scene behind in the 90s I’m finding I enjoy this record now more than I ever had and had to move it up to a 9. It might be better than that, but for now I still give the nod to their second, Gamme, which is more of the same, just improved.
Tom’s also got a take on this album here.
Fast ‘n Bulbous - Saufelden 8/25/03 (aired 9/6/04)
Great sounding and almost note for note performance of the ex Beefheart musicians’ Cuneiform album from 4FM in the Netherlands, and I mean note for note not literally as much as even the free bits reminded me exactly of what they did on the album. Fast n Bulbous do the Beefheart catalog instrumentally and add a rather New York style horn section to the mix and it all works very well, those elastic avant-blues sounds holding up extremely well even without the amazing idiosyncratic poetry of the good Captain. Beefheart pays back pretty well in my book, each listen improving one’s understanding of some of the most complicated and unique music on the planet.
Delaney & Bonnie & Friends - A&R Recording Studios, New York City 7/22/71
I don’t really know the story behind this band and why they managed to attract a lot of the great talent of the day (Clapton, both Allman brothers, etc.) but this set of studio sessions ends up somewhere between a solo Clapton concert, a gospelized Dead show and some cheesy variety act. “Goin’ Down the Road Feeling Bad” makes me yearn for the Donna Godchaux version (which if you know the reference oughta say something). The rest seem like rather staid jams as if there was too little preparation and too many hands to feed.