THE FIRST SEVEN DAYS

A prog-like concept album?! (From The Year in Which Anything Was Possible!) With The First Seven Days Jan Hammer grabs the commercially-successful progressive rock bull by the horns and tries his hand at "soundtrack" music (something he will excel at in the near future) as artists like Mike Oldfield, Rick Wakeman, Vangelis Papathanassiou, Jeff Wayne, Patrick Moraz, Larry Fast, David Sancious, and so many others had been trying to do for the previous year or two.

1. "Darkness/Earth In Search Of A Sun" (4:31) decent soundtrack music with everything performed by Jan himself. Impressive! (9/10)

2. "Light/Sun" (6:44) the "Light" component of this song/suite is comprised of a treated(?) jazz piano played over Oberheim synth strings in a near-melody-less fashion (with a poorly recorded piano). The second half of the song sees Jan moving totally into full synthesizer mode à la Japanese artists Tomita and Kitaro as well as Todd Rundgren (side two of 1975's Initiation),Vangelis Papathanassiou, Larry Fast, and to a different degree, Kraftwerk were doing. I rather like this second part--and, surprisingly, moreso with each repeated listen (perhaps because it sounds so much like a personal favorite "song" [suite] of mine: Tod Rundgren's "Treatise on Cosmic Fire")! (9/10)

3. "Oceans And Continents" (6:16) hi-lo bounced piano chords over and within which various "strings" and Moog sounds are laid out and/or woven. It's pretty though rather simple; what it does do is capture a mood--much in the way that New Age artists like Suzanne Ciani, Philip Aaberg, Liz Story, Yanni and David Lanz would soon be making careers out of. (8.875/10)

4. "Fourth Day - Plants And Trees" (2:46) oddly melodic "classical" piano, tout seul (until synths, 'tron, et al. join in during the final minute). (8.875/10)

5. "The Animals" (6:14) African drums displayed prominently beneath Jan's strings, Moog, and other strands of synths. An hypnotic tune that is, ultimately, rather enjoyable. The shift in tempo and dynamic at the 3:50 mark, I take it, is meant to represent the wild herds on the plains--or the dynamic chases that occur as the predators hunt down their food prey. The percussion play on this song is my favorite element despite the Mahavishnu-level epithets of machine gun spray emanated from Jan's keys at the end. (8.875/10)

6. "Sixth Day - The People" (7:15) piano and Steve Kindler's violin dancing a rather formal, almost classical, duet for the first two minutes. Then Steve fast-bows a single note while Jan introduces some odd synthetic sounds (sequenced) into the mix and the dance starts over. The sequenced synthesizer, it would seem, might be intended to depict society and advancements in technology--things that contributed not only as survival tools but, eventually, as means to comfort, ease, and, hopefully, artistic creativity.--especially as the weave thickens and grows in complexity over the course of the length of the song. Interesting. And not a bad representation for the addition of humankind. (13.5/15)

7. "The Seventh Day" (6:11) repetitious piano chord and melody could very well connote the Day of Rest. The full-build of the musical palette and form would certainly lend itself to thinking of relaxing--at least for the first 90 seconds. Add drums, violin, and synths and we have a more plotted out day presented to us: brunch, church, group entertainment (involving Nature?), family gathering (for a Sunday meal). Nice finish to a surprisingly satisfying (though fairly simple) album. (8.875/10)

Total Time 40:08

An album that feels oddly brief for the number of things The Creator god accomplished over the space of those seven "days." I have to admit that I'm a bit surprised at the (admirable) restraint shown by one of Power Fusion's founding disciples! Who knew that Jan could grasp a concept such as "Less is more"?

B+/4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of remarkably-well-crafted progressive rock soundtrack music!

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