THE BLUE ZONE

Nic Potter (1951/2013), should sound familiar to those acquainted with Van Der Graaf Generator. He was their bass player, as he also played alongside or inside with other musicians and musical projects. A sad loss but nevertheless quiet a fructiferous life.

Of those myriad of projects, his solo ones, are included in this Progressive/Electronic sub-genre.

I due to the same felt intrigued, because a die hard VDGG follower I am not.

As far as electronic goes, yes there is synth-pop/rock in his 2 first releases and yes an expected dosage of the then emerging "New Age" and "Fusion/World Music" musical stylings.

Anyway, once inside the works I got, I will start with his fourth release as registered here in PA, "The Blue Zone", 1990. Why I chose this one? Well nobody can play the Bassoon as it sounds here, at least not Nic.

Here is the list of the unwritten credits.

Bassoon / Lindsay Cooper (track: 5), Classical Guitar / Duncan Browne (tracks: 4, 5), Electric Guitar / Snowy White (track: 1), Guitar / Huw Lloyd-Langton (tracks: 3, 6), Peter Hammill (track: 2), Oboe / Catherine Milliken (tracks: 5), Percussion [Woodblock] / Guy Evans (track: 2), Saxophone / Malcolm 'Molly' Duncan (track: 6), Violin / Stuart Gordon (track: 5).

So as I was telling this is a party, not a guy playing with himself (no pun intended).

Ok, for starters, he has not the same knack for experimentation his mothership band held, in fact he was known as Nic "Mozart" Potter, this release shows why. More than once a symphonic mood emerges. Big structured, epic like sections arranged to its full extent, not exactly that original in their language but huge, as mini-"Mozartesques" playful figures tag along and that is only part of the show.

The Fusion/Latin styling was Nic's mode to translate his bass player's spiritual cadence and Santana's language seems to have made quiet an impression on him, therefore there are also this kind of "Sexy/Latin/Danceable" moods. Add up Vangelis and J.M. Jarre as close influences in his music writing.

All in all, some highly exciting, perfectly structured tracks, but not exactly a unique musical language which demands more listenings. Then again this album will fill expectations but then eventually could easily be forgotten. Best track "Blue Zone-3" the longest one, which adds 0.5 .

***3.5 PA stars.