JULIAN JAY SAVARIN : WAITERS ON THE DANCE

The brainchild of this musical project is Julian Savarin. He was born in Dominica but moved with his family to Britain in the early Sixties. He was a writer and a keyboard player and longing to fullfill his musical ideas. Julian recruited his own band with John Dover on bass, Del Watkins on guitar, Jack Drummond on drums and Cathy Pruden on vocals. They started rehearsing and gigging round London as Julian's Treatment. In june '70 the label Youngblood released their first album "A Time Before This". Two years later Julian was approached by Birth records to make a new album. Only bass player John Dover came from the old line-up, other musicians of Julian's new band were Nigel Jenkins (guitar), Roger Odell (drums) and Lady JoMeek (vocals). And in '73 the second album "Waiters On The Dance" came out, credited by Julian J. Savarin (nowadays a famous SF writer!).

The music on this second album sounds very dated and relatively simple but the atmospheres are often very compelling, due to the warm and powerful voice of Lady JoMeek (with echoes from Annie Haslam but with more emotion), the omnipresent floods of Hammond organ, some majestic flute - and violin Mellotron drops, fiery guitar play and a fluent rhythm-section. The album contains six compositions, all are on the compilation A Time Before This .. Plus except the track Dance Of The Golden Flamingoes (wonderful interplay between Melotron and Hammond organ), that's why I have bought this CD!

Julian's Treatment their melodic and tasteful sound has echoes from Earth & Fire, Rare Bird and Bram Stoker, blended with some psychedelic undertones and harder-edged guitar work. In my opinion this is one of the most overlooked gems on Prog Archives!

Julian Jay Savarin natural born Dominican but moved to GB later on may be considered another named that gone under the radar in prog circles maybe because of lack of exposure or bad management. One of the proeminent figures from ealry '70 in prog both if we speak as a solo artis or with Julian Treatment, he is not regarded among well known composers and keyboard playes of his time. The one and only album under his name saw the light in 1971 named Waiters on the dance and is an excellent album all around, better then many well known releases from that era. He was more known as a writer, specially in Japan , for publishing novels. Back to the album, there is a lot to like here, fuzzy guitars going into psychedelic prog terrytory, lots of mellotron and inventive keyboards, very nice vocal parts, in some places is similarity with lets say dutch Earth & Fire. Al in all more then great and quite underrated in my opinion, all pieces standing as almost excellent with a plus on opening Child of the Night 1 & 2, an 8 plus min of pure delight. 4 stars easy, and recommended one of the better psych/prog albums from early years of that decade..

To me, this improves on A Time Before This. Julian Jay Savarin decided to drop the Julian's Treatment name, probably due to everyone in that group leaving aside from the bassist, John Dover, with new musicians in their place. Of note is Jo Meek, sister of Anna Meek of Catapilla (in fact Jo was originally in Catapilla, but jumped ship to Julian Jay Savarin before Catapilla recorded). I found it rather amusing some sources stating "Anna Jo Meek" sang on this album, which is silly, since Anna and Jo were two separate people. To be honest, Waiters on the Dance is basically another Julian's Treatment album. Jo Meek's vocals aren't too terribly different from her predecessor Cathy Pruden (I was expecting Jo to do similar screaming her sister did on Catapilla's debut, but to be fair even Anna tamed herself on Catapilla's second and final release Changes, more similar to Jo's singing on Waiters on the Dance). Also of note is future Shakatak drummer Roger Odell, who, some progheads, like myself, know from CMU (his wife Larraine Odell handled the vocals on CMU).

Here's how I felt Waiters on the Dance improved on A Time Before This: more mature compositions, and that groovy '60s vibe has been thankfully toned down (that groovy '60s vibe on A Time Before This got me thinking of the 1968 movie Barbarella, even though the music on that film was basically easy listening kitsch and nothing like Julian's Treatment). The music takes on a harder edge, with more upfront guitar, but Julian's organ is ever present and recognizable as ever, and what I really love is he includes the Mellotron on half the songs, and does it quite nicely. Favorites of mine include "Child of the Night 1 & 2", "The Death of Alda", "Cycle" and "Soldiers of Time". "Cycle" has an organ that reminds me of the intro to Web's "I Spider" (the title track from the 1970 album of that name), but faster pace, and I love that jazzy break (almost reminds me of the Doors' "Light My Fire" with Brian Auger-like jazzy Hammond organ playing).

What I also love of Waiters on the Dance is the cover. Had I seen this in the flesh at some record store, I would have not hesitated to buy a copy (had this been 1971, that is, unfortunately I wasn't alive in 1971, the prices asking for an original these days are downright criminal - thank God for reissues). I am not familiar with Julian Jay Savarin's novels, I do know that both A Time Before This and Waiters on the Dance were part of his Lemmus trilogy. Regardless, of the two that became albums, I definitely prefer Waiters on the Dance, it's great stuff I highly recommend.

Me and this album has been going through the years together like an old couple and just as love fades the fire could rekindle, given the right time and effort. The stormy passion of our first time together was replaced by lukewarm affection for some years but then something happened. I returned and found something completely different, a Cosmic reunion that sort of caught me off guard.

On the surface this album has Always provided the things I love the most about early progressive music. There's the Hammond organ, obviously, and it comes in abundance. The glorious Power of the ever so Mighty organ strikes down like the hammer of the Gods. Then there's the fuzzed out guitar, the sort of dry drum sound and great bass playing. To top things off the singer, lady Jo Meek, offers great passionate vocals. Oh, and then there's the sci-fi or fantasy lyrics. Just amazing.

But then I sort of grew tired of it. I now know that I did not spend as much time listening to all the songs as I did with the opening, Child of the night 1&2. Now there's a song, ef ever there was one. Dramatic and climatic with an organ that simply overwhelms you. Now, the years passed and listening to the album seemed less important. But then I picked it up again and to my surprise I found it was way better than I remembered.

Apart from the amazing opener the remainder of the album is really outstanding. The music shifts and turns but retains the overall feel. I will not go through every track but "Dance of the golden flamingoes" is really Worth mentioning. It is by far the heaviest track on the album with a brutally simple but effective riff played by the guitar. It's got some of that groovy sound of London in the early 70's but not without a serious amount of prog. The ending "Soldiers of time" leaves the listener in a desire for more but from what I can gather Julian Jay Savarin never made another album, which is a shame.

If you are into early 70's prog rock with fantasy lyrics, demanding but not that overly complex, this album is a real treat. Earthy, powerful, emotional, dramatic, surging and passionate. Great stuff and one of my favorite albums. My love for it endured and grew over time. Top stuff.