SECRET OYSTER [AKA: FURTIVE PEARL]

4.5 stars.This has to be the greatest band ever to come out of Denmark. A supergroup of sorts with the drummer, sax, and bass player from BURNIN' RED IVANHOE joined by the Avant-garde keyboard player from CORONARIAS DANS, and the amazing guitar player from HURDY GURDY (Claus Bohling). By the way Donovan's song "Hurdy Gurdy Man" is about THIS guitar player. Cool. This album is one of those great discoveries I come across once and a while that makes the search so worth while. The album cover is from a post card of the mainstreet of the little town where they recorded this their debut record. This really is a blend of Jazz / Rock / Fusion with Claus just ripping it up throughout on his guitar.

"Dampexpression" opens with piano that builds as sax and a full sound arrives quickly.The sax and drumming stand out along with the keys. The guitar before 2 minutes lights it up as the bass throbs, more great guitar again after 3 minutes. "Fire & Water" has a nice beat as organ and fat bass lead the way. Guitar comes in very psychedelic-like as the tempo picks up. Amazing sound 3 minutes in.The guitar rips it up before 5 minutes. "Vive La Quelle ?" has a memorable, uptempo melody until a calm a minute in where guitar and drums start to make some noise without a real melody. Just raw guitar sounds and random drum patterns. We start to get a melody after 4 minutes. Keys come in and they become dissonant at times. Some good guitar 7 minutes in. The song ends as it began.

"Blazing Lace" has a haunting intro before the guitar comes in and takes over. Sax, drums and bass are all here. Love the guitar after 3 minutes. "Public Oyster" is the longest track at almost 11 minutes. This is actually very Krautrock-like early, the way the keys and guitar lead the way. The sound starts to build 3 1/2 minutes in. Guitar comes in at 5 minutes and plays over top. Nice. Sax comes in sounding really good as does the relentless drumming.The guitar starts to shine after 9 minutes. "Mis(s) Fortune" is lighter, almost Canterbury-like with lots of keys and bass. "Ova-X" opens with sax with not much of a melody as sounds come and go. It's kind of experimental and i like it.

This all-instrumental debut from SECRET OYSTER is so impressive. Just a pleasure to listen to.