DIUMENGE

Man I was not expecting this debut from these Spaniards to be this good. I was reminded of MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA alot, although there is no violin. Lots of electric piano and the drummer is simply killer on this disc. Throw in sax, trumpet, guitar and chunky bass and mix it into a Jazz / Fusion style and that's what we get.

"Fesomies Urbanes" opens with cymbals, horns and atmosphere before it kicks in with some impressive and intricate drum work. Electric piano and horns sound amazing. "Lila" is a mellow piece with acoustic guitar and smooth horns. "Capitan Truend" has such an incredible sounding rhyhm section as horns, electric piano and guitar help out. This is just a pleasure. Love the guitar. Lalila" is just over a minute of acoustic guitar as horns come in late.

"Euphoria" sounds so good. Chunky bass, drums, electric piano and horns are all so impressive. It settles with guitar 1 1/2 minutes in.The drumming is once again amazing. "L'harmoniosa Simfonia D'un Cos. Part 1" is atmospheric with horns and electric piano slowly playing. "L'harmoniosa Simfonia D'un Cos. Part 2" has this beat with guitar, horns and electric piano. Gorgeous. "El "Bailaor" Cosmic" features piano early then it picks up 1 1/2 minutes in. Nice bass and drum work as piano continues. The guitar starts to light it up. "Tema Dels Carrers Radioactius" opens with drums as guitar,electric piano and horns join in. Some fire here. It ends with the sound of a large truck going by.

I just can't give this less than 5 stars.The atmosphere and lights out instrumental work has left me stunned. This is right up there with fellow Spaniards ICEBERG's best but better.

"Diumenge", the debut album by the pioneers of Catalonian rock-fusion Companyia Eléctrica Dharma, was at the time a great impulse for the development of the avant-garde rock and jazz scenarios; nowadays, it can be truly appreciated as an unforgettable gem of Catalonian jazz-prog that served the band's purpose to boost their own musical voice by exorcising their jazz-dominated influences (akin to Weather Report and early RtF, and also coincidental with Perigeo). First and last, "Diumenge" is a lovely jazz-prog album, and so CED reveal that they have plenty of good ideas to offer to whoever may stop and listen to them. 'Fesomies urbanes' opens up the album with a free-form intro and then deliveres a warm, joyful main body. The overall mood is soaring and thereral, but the colorfulness is petnetly there to be noticed immediately. 'Lila' is a whole different thing: a soft piece led by the acoustic guitar and filled with electric piano washes and soprano sax lines, it delicately brings an array of successively free-jazz, bossanova and Flamenco textures. So beautiful... probably many listeners have taken the time to listen to this piece twice in a row before getting at the next track, and quite rightly so. Again, this album must go on and so we come to 'Capitán Trueno', which actually happens to be a constant CED staple. With its 10+ minute span, it brings back the fusion ambience and works on it with amazing intensity. Esteve Fortuny's guitar solo is one of his best moments ever; additionally, there are no words for me to express the solid power that the rhythm duo provides to the whole sonic scheme. The fact that the sax solo is the last one helps the track to contain itself in its own vibrant colorfulness rght up to the end, which in turn makes sense with the reprise of 'Lila' entitled 'Lalila'. 'Eufória' has a very convenient title: it is an euphoric piece, full of enthusiastic moods and optimistic sensations that will surely affect the listener's mind in a good way. Next are the two parts of 'L'armoniosa simfonia d'un cos': part 1 is mysterious and reflective, part 2 is stated on a funky mid-tempo that partially echoes the cosmic mood of part 1. It's like part 1 portrayed the foggy shades of late afternoon and part 2 focused on the stable blackness of the night - I wouldn't have minded if the fade-out of part 2 had come in later on, but in general, 'L'armoniosa simfonia d'un cos' generates a particular climax for the whole album's framework. 'El "Bailaor" cósmic' starts with an agile grand piano intro, then an introspective electric piano interlude follows, and by the 1 1/2 minute mark the main body is set to express a constrained mode of energetic extrovertiveness. Ultimately, the closer 'Tema dels carrers radioactius' dellivers a fuller extroverted aura, humorous indeed: it is a proper closure for such a colorful album. This CED debut is highly recommended to all prog rock collectors sensitive to the jazzier side of experimental rock.

Companyia Electrica Dharma (aka La Dharma) were, together with Iceberg and Orquestra Mirasol, one of the pioneers of the 2nd wave of catalan progressive music, the wave dominated by Jazz-Rock/Fusion. Formed around the core of the Fortuny siblings from Barcelona city, when they released this debut in 1975 they immediately became a benchmark for their talent and musicianship.

La Dharma would soon differentiate themselves from other bands by coining a very personal fusion of Jazz-Rock with traditional catalan music, very joyful and evocative of the summer festivities celebrations in a catalan village.

But in this debut album this sound had not yet evolved and we are treated with top notch classic JR/F in the style of Mahavishnu, RtF, Brand X and the likes, although one key element was already present being the trademark soprano sax evoquing the catalan tradional wind instrument tenora , which would remain a very distinct feature of their sound for their long career.

The album starts with the fast-paced Fesomies Urbanes (Urban Physiognomies), displaying right away their high musicianship, a track with plenty of electric piano adorned with great soprano sax and synth solos. It becomes immediately clear that Pep Fortuny's drumming is one of the highlights, amazing combination of rythmic playing with constant intrincate fills.

Lila calms things down, a beautiful soft piece based on spanish guitar with sax melodies full of sensitivity, which has a short reprise in Lalila, but before that we have the 10 min Capitan Trueno (a popular character from 1970's Spanish comics) with its groovy rythmic section and fantastic Rhodes, sax and guitar melodies and solos. Only one thing may be slightly criticised, Esteve Fortuny was (besides a good composer) a good guitarist playing rythm or mid-speed solos but when he attempted to solo at very high speed he couldn't compete with the greats like McLaughlin or Di Meola, which is not a shame (he would tragically die of a brain bleeding on stage in 1986, RIP).

Euforia is another great fast-paced fusion track with Rhodes, sax and guitar.

L'Harmoniosa Simfonia d'Un Cos (The Harmonious Symphony Of A Body) is split in 2 parts, the first dreamy with a very sensitive sax and the second more mid-tempo, great stuff.

El Bailaor Cosmic (The Cosmic Flamenco Dancer) has a soft piano intro and develops into a gorgeous mid-tempo theme with Rhodes and guitar solos, the rythm section again magnificient. The album closes with the short but highly energetic and syncopated Tema Dels Carrers Radioactius (Theme Of The Radioactive Streets).

A great Fusion album without any weak points, I can't give it less than 5 stars even if it's not yet very personal. As from their second album L'Oucomballa they retained their quality but they coupled it with their to-be trademark sound blending the Jazz-Rock/Fusion with catalan folk and popular music, which made them very unique and interesting.