OPEN SPACES

A weird eclectic group that ended up recording two albums on a folk specialist label Transatlantic, CMU is not a folk rock group as often described. Their line-up was never really stable during the group's existence, but at the time of their debut album, they were a sextet featuring male and female vocals (something very common in folk and folk rock circles), but also multi-instrumentalists like guitar/flute or keyboards/guitars/violin.

Opening on the quirky and mad Henry track, CMU offers a cool eclectic music that borders pop music, but remains "rock" enough to interest most progheads, with plenty of tempo changes and fun twists. Voodoo Man is a blues with an early-Doors vibe. As you'll guess by reading the title of the following track, we have another blues-rock track, this time more pedestrian and acoustic and overstaying a bit its welcome, even if it has a controlled chaos passage and ending. Chantecleer is probably the most experimental track of the album with its electronics twiddlings and it is probably the main reason for this group's presence on this site.

Opening the flipside is a slow uninteresting Japan track, where the group tries to sound Asian, but only succeeds to India's level. The Zappa-esque vocals of Clown are much catchier, but I am reminded of 10CC or later70's Queen. The hippy-like Mystical Sounds features flutes. The epic title track Open Space is the other cornerstone of the album, opening on a dronal violin and very slow drums, creating an intense and anxious climate as the violin cranks up slowly the power and speed. I can't help but think of String Driven Thing's Machine That Cried at this point. Unfortunately the crescendo dips into a black hole, from which the band will take a couple of minutes to escape, but once it does, it has morphed into a slight mid-eastern influenced jazz feel that slowly increases intensity only to plunge again a the black hole and remain there.

PS: the See For Miles 2on1 CD released in 93 is unfortunately missing one of this album's key track, Chantecleer, for time reasons, so if you're really interested in the group, try out the brand-new Esoteric single-album reissue. Not quite essential and even less groundbreaking, but definitely worth throwing an ear on it to check out the light gentle madness that shook these guys

Quite often prog rock fans look into those more obscure bands trying to find the great lost gem of progressive rock, and fail, since there is hardly something like that. Even so, many albums can be quite enjoyable. And it was more or less what happened to me when I came across CMU Open Spaces album. Luckily, the CD was not a "unofficial" Russian release.

CMU music is very ecletic, with heavy jazzy and bluesy leanings, but also some psychedelia, folk and experimental touches as well, not unlike many other offerings of the era. The band features a male and a female vocalist that share vocal duties, sometimes together in the same song, but mostly alternating between songs. The more experimental songs, which are also the two longest ones, are the most interesting in a progressive point of view. Chantecleer is more rock side and Open Spaces is more experimental, unstructured. Both great songs.

The other songs are also interesting, ranging from good to great. Highlights are Henry, with lots of changes, strong jazzy overtones and quite interesting lyrics; their rendition of Pharoah Sanders' Japan, with more subtlety than the original, giving it a nice Japanese traditional folk vibe; and Mystical Sounds, with its psych touches and nice flute work.

All in all, it is an album I like to come back to it frequently because it is well recorded, well played, has interesting ideas, and not very derivative (I particularly enjoy the usage of clean guitar tones and the strong rhythm section). It even had some songs that became instantly remarkably in the first listen, which is a boon in the genre, since it is often that albums are good but you can't remember any song of the album after a few listens.