MARIANUS

It's unknown if this was a name of a band or just the name of the leader of this group of musicians, sure thing is they were based in Andover, Massachusetts and the frontman Marianus was the lead vocalist and keyboardist.One single and one album on their own Jupiter Phonodisk was the only recordings they left behind and the line-up included three guitarists, Joe Fazio, Jeff Pevar and Steve Perry, Jack Petrycki on synths, Joseph Blair Mudarri on bass and bass pedals, three backing singers, Sarojani, Jesse Henderson (who was also the sound enginner) and Jay Perkins, and drummer Joe Petruzzelli, who had spent some time previously with local Symphonic Popsters Orchestra Luna.The only album ''Visions from out of the blue'' was released in 1981.

This work is actually all over the place with the Mellotron exhibition being its most surprising aspect, quite strange for a 1981 album, the music is far from consistent, but still offers a lot of enjoyable moments.Marianus sounded actually like a cross between VICTOR PERAINO'S KINGDOM COME and PAVLOV'S DOG, both in their less sophisticated versions, having a style led by the main man's irritating vocals (somewhere between David Surkamp and Geddy Lee), the pompous guitar leads and the omnipresent keyboard tricks with synthesizers and Mellotron in evidence.They also remind me of STARCASTLE during their struggling days, there is some sort of YES influence in the epic deliveries, but the material as a whole is walking on the more poppy style of Prog Rock.Even so this guy could compose decent songs with symphonic colors among the catchy hooks.Of course the material also cuts the edges of the aforementioned styles, for example the opener ''Out of the blue'' sounds more like ABBA meeting QUEEN on stage for a dull, theatrical Pop Rock explosion, then on the other side ''Prelude'' is a fantastic Avant-Garde/symphonic instrumental with archaic flutes next to Marianu's cinematic, haunting Mellotron.I guess there was a little confusion during the recordings with all these styles present and, in fact, the list even contains some pre-New Wave hints in certain pieces.Quite weird to listen to a high-pitched voice placed next to the mightly Mellotron and the groovy beats in same track, but the combination worked pretty well.

Weird US quasi-Prog/Art Rock obscurity.I have seen copies flirting with triple digits, so maybe some samples before purchasing are needed...or even better a CD/LP reissue would solve the problem.Anyway, I liked what I heard and if you don't mind your prog being often overpowered by pompous, melodramatic and theatrical elements this comes warmly recommended.