SARABANDE

Whatever you want to say about Jon Lord’s discography, there can be little argument that this particular album is pure symphonic rock. On the symphonic side is the Philharmonica Hungarica Orchestra, conducted by Eberhard Schoener. On the rock side are Lord, Police guitarist Andy Summers, and Spencer Davis Group drummer Pete York. And just to spice things up, former elf drummer and world-music percussionist Mark Nauseef adds his appreciable talents as well.

This album was recorded over just three days in Germany late in 1975, and was released by (big surprise) Deep Purple Records ltd. The entire album was composed and scored by Lord.

This is an all instrumental album, and frankly I can’t imagine any vocalist could have added anything to it anyway. Apparently a sarabande is a triple metre slow dance that originated somewhere in Latin America, and was later adopted as a movement in Baroque-era suites. In those days the slow tempo and suggestive metre was considered somewhat obscene. And no, I did not know this – I looked it up, so if that’s incorrect please disregard. Another big surprise (not!), Debussy and Monteverdi were both fond of this musical style and incorporated it into their music a hundred years or so later. Now I’m not a musician, or even an expert on music history, but I do believe that there is a connection between this suggestive style of dance music in Baroque suites, and the contradanza in Ravel’s ‘Boléro’, also from the Baroque era. That was also considered a suggestive and obscene ballet score. And the slow, building ¾ dance timbre that builds to a maddening crescendo in that work has been repeated ad nausea in modern progressive and post-rock by bands like Jefferson Airplane, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and even ELP. So I guess this work has some historical significance.

But these tracks don’t get me as worked up as either ‘Boléro’ or the Godspeed albums. Today they mostly sound like energetic classical music conducted by an orchestra, which is of course exactly what they are. Lord adds plenty of embellishment on all manner of keyboards, including grand piano, ARP, a Hammond, and string synths. Summers really doesn’t add a whole lot to the mix, although he manages a bit of almost flamenco acoustic picking on “Bource” (a little difficult to separate from the keyboards), and cuts loose just a bit on the percussion-frenzied “Caprice”.

The rest of the tracks are serious symphonic stuff, with the exception of “Pavane”, which combines acoustic guitar, piano, and only a mild accompaniment of strings.

This is not a rock album, and it is not anything like you would expect if the only Jon Lord you’ve ever heard is his work wit Deep Purple. But this is one of the albums that earned him the progressive label, and combines with ‘Windows’ and ‘Gemini Suite’ to provide the most conclusive argument that the title is legitimate.

Lord has managed to wander off on different paths during his long solo career, but before he started down those many roads he delivered this archetype symphonic rock gem for us to enjoy, perhaps just to prove he could. A 4.5 effort, technically perfect and engaging, but just a tiny bit shy of essential. Highly recommended for symphonic rock fans, as well as fans of exquisite piano and acoustic guitar.

peace