ARS LONGA VITA BREVIS

They hold everything one loves (or hate) from the later works of the and. Self indulgence from dear old Keith; but not only. After an obviously pompous "Prelude", the next "Awakenings" holds a drum solo which was probably not the best musical idea that the band has ever had.

There is nothing to say about the musicians of course, the drumming from Palmer is excellent. What! It is not Palmer, hum.Davidson? Are you sure? Oh, it is an album from "The Nice" and not an ELP one. I'm sorry about that! I guess that you got the idea.

Realisation holds all the pomposity of the later trio as well as weak vocals. The "Acceptance" part is way better, and offers a very pleasant interplay between each band members while "Denial" is my favourite section of this long suite. Great keyboards playing from the master and strong backing from the rhythmic as well.

In all, I consider the title track as the best part of this album.

From the first three songs of this "Ars Longa." only "Daddy..." is worth a mention. A fine psychedelic track well in line with those late mid-sixties and strongly early Floyd oriented. The jazzy Little "Arabella" and the childish "Happy Freuds" can be considered as pure fillers IMO.

This album is just a rehearsal of some pictures at an exhibition. But very pale in comparison. Still, it must be considered as highly innovative at the time of its release. Five out of ten but I upgrade it to three stars.

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