LADY OF SHALOTT

Atmosphere is an old Israeli progressive rock band that doesn't exist anymore, however , it managed to be popular among the progressive rock fans in the late seventies and early eighties. Atmosphera used to play symphonic progressive rock like Yes. I believe that their entire CD is better than Zingale's CD, and I think that it should be checked if you are interested in good progressive rock. I have chosen to give this record the four stars rating since it's the best israeli progressive rock album from the seventies in my opinion. Recommended!

This album probably reveals the Israeli Symphonic-Rock days at it's best. Consider the fact the band members were young then (16-17 years old), one of them showed that even he could be named "the middle-east's fastest guitarist" (Moti Fonseca).

Their sound can be interpertated: the music that resembles Yes in it's instrument lines and 'atmosphere', along with the great lyrics of William Shakespeare and Lord Tennyson.

I'll give this one three out of five, since it isn't a true masterpiece of progressive rock, but it can be acknowledgable.

This is THE GROUP From Israël : The Best ...

Lady Of Sharlott is a beautiful album ... Melody ... in the good of Genius Genesis ... this is a Prog Melodic Music ... This is recommended, as this is a Master-Piece of Music.

Really Good music, this is strange of Israël with atmosphere Yes for the voice and genesis from the music ...

Lady Of Sharlott is absolutely Essential

Well here is an album which doesnt get much reviews... Atmosphera was an israeli band which never released its album at the time (1977) because of lack of interest in the record companies and the israeli public in general. Does it mean that the album is not good?? Actually far from it!!, the album has its share of very good high moments (mainly the 2 main tracks : Lady of shalot, Cuckoo) along with superb musicians which proves that even small and insugnifficant countries musicwise can produce great music. My main problem here is lack of originallity, THEY REALLY SOUND LIKE YES. I actually dont like YES very much (Too cheerful for me) so in this case it does not add that much to my review. However i must give them a brake for 2 good reasons:1. They were very very young when they made this., 2. They had absolutly no support publicwise and still the technic and composition are great. Therefore i will give this 3 stars taking off 2 points for lack of originality and sound quality. But if you like YES in there glorydays then you are in for a treat with this album (If you can find it)

After years of searching for another band providing quality progressive music, as found in albums of King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd (and a few other) - I've finally put my hands on this double album. No, I'm not saying it equals to any of the above, but this is as close as it gets, as far as I know.

Atmosphera (which is hebrew for what you think it is) is aware of their immitating Yes - they even used to call eachother by the names their matching members in Yes. Although the influence of the great progressive "empires" is noteable, Atmosphera truly had tons of input here. Lady of Shalott is all about creativity, and great virtuosity. Their music is highly complicated - and the harmony between all the instruments (the singer being an instrument as well) is astounding!

Unfortunately, this late 70's material was only released in 2002. In addition, I don't know how much Lady of Shalott is available outside Israel. But if you're in the opinion nobody ever made music as well as King Crimson, etc. - this is a MUST! Lady of Shalott is easily international in its quality; it kicks the hell out of most of the prog I've heard.

Allthough all of the above, Lady of Shalott still doesn't compare to albums like Tales from Topographic Oceans, Islands, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, which are the real alltime masterpieces of music.

- So a 4-star, and a must listen!

Lady of Shalott is one of the highlights of Israeli prog, a very interesting album with some very high "ups" and minimal "downs"... Almost every moment is virtuoso playing, lush composing, ranging from minimalstic to bombastic...

It's hard to say that every moment is musical genius, but nearly every single moment is freaking COOL. Everything is very complicated, you can sense the complexity, and yet, the tunes are simple, melodic, easy to love. In this sense, it reminds me of Camel... Complex but simple...

Although, I wouldn't say that Camel are a main influence, that would have to be Yes. It's hard to avoid the feeling of "Damn this is an absolute Yes ripoff", but somehow that dosen't bother me... Well, personally, I don't get a sense of deja-vu when I hear them... they just don't sound unique, they sound like a rip-off, but it's not like you will hear any familiar Yes tunes on this album...

The vocalist [Efrayim Barak] though, is just a pretty mediocre immitation of Jon Anderson... the keyboardists [Yuval Rivlin] is also highly influenced by Rick Wakeman.

I must say that the bass on this album is spectacular, Alon Nadel does not remind me of Chriss Squire at all, his style is amazing and I think he is freaking brilliant.

Also, the Drumming on this album is definitly the highlight. Yeah, he immitates bruford... but he sounds different, more technical, sometimes more complex and creative. I love his drumming much more than I do bruford... so props to Mr. Ami Lipner.

All around I think this is a very good album. Not essential though. I couldn't give it a 5 star because it's not an important album, its not a masterpiece. it is VERY, VERY cool though, and I listen to it more often than I do some 5 star albums.

Get ready for a big shock when you will listen to this.

Of course it does sound as "Yes". So what ? Can you imagine a bunch of Israeli youngsters producing prog rock at his best in 77 ? Well, listen to this album.

The opener "Lady Of Shalott" is fantastic. Vocals are so close to Jon's ones that you really believe that it is a YesForgotten album.

The comparison with the master is easy : great symphonic moments, complex instrumental passages (especially in "Cuckoo"), very good musicianship (Moti Fonseka sounds as Howe at times). This band really deserves a close listen.

Three stars for this effort.

This is simply amazing music!!

Atmosphera really out did them selves, being only kids when they recorded it, this is highly progressive rock with a lot of sensitivity, I have only high appreciation for them, writing this music in those early years of life . Although I have the cd version which contain some other material like ami lipner's remixes, which actually has no place in this release, I have to judge this one by more than only the cd version. The two main compositions are what we are gathered here for. Staggering performance by all, drums are accurate and are simply amazing, guitar is beautiful with some fiery solos around, bass is also stunning and keys are just perfect. The music is very melodic with some jazz elements mixed with rock, very interesting. Both compsositions flow from one part to the other easily like it was a 4 minutes song. although the sound is similar to YES they are no clone, I am amazed of how talented they are writing and performing this. this is my favourite israeli prog and it beats a lot of releases from other great bands around the world.

CD 1 also contain some live jamming which is not equaly good as the previous tracks, I think mainly because of the horrible sound, the first live track if it were recorded with the two main compositions it would have been equally good but the garage sound ruins the song, and the next one which is a blues track. nice overall.

CD 2 contain some live tracks, and another track done by the band 'Istopy' which is a different version of atmosphera, what a killer track that is!! it has an amazing climax, it starts with a slow scary atmosphere, great piano, killer keys join in with the rest of the band, it than return to the main theme with jazzy bass and drums and as the vocals turn more aggressive so does the rest of the band until it blows up to crazy aggressive bass and drums with good vocals. the audience didn't know what hit them!!

Things like that is hard to find in israel those days so i'm left only with admiration. even though this release is not constant due to bad recording and some live tracks, the studio tracks make up for it and worth the whole album alone.

I love it and i will give it 5 stars.

One word review: WOW

More than one word review: With my jaw hanging down so far and tears of joy over owning this pooring down onto my keyboard it is rather hard to type out how amazing this album sounds. This my friends is no YES clone, this could very well be a YES equal! Now I know how that sounds and part of me hates to type it but I can't get around the fact that this album brings just as much pure listening joy as the majority of YES' work (CTTE not included). The play and composition is at such an impressive level that it may take a certain amount of effort from symphonic prog fans (at least those who believe they've heard it all) to allow their brains to believe whats being beamed into their ears. You may ask yourself: Am I really hearing this? And: How could I have missed this? Maybe you'll say things like: There is no way music like this could have come from some band from Israel I've never heard of. Or: Why, this just can't be.

While the final three tracks, the (Me El-Ma) songs, aren't as in step with the rest of the album (or even my own particular tastes) I can appreciate what they were doing here as this is a concept album (actually the mix of two concept albums) after all. The instrumental and compositional ability is still tremendous.

If you are able to accept the fact that ATMOSPHERA is are playing YES like music at YES like levels without actually being YES then I honestly believe you'll love, not like, this album. And while this review may have seemed like nothing more than fawning praise it is only because I'm struck with very little to say describing the actual music and am very comfortable with letting it speak for itself.

Atmosphera comes from Israel. Unfortunate, they only released this album. The last version comes as a 2 CD version. I only have the original album (CD 1) and it is that one I am reviewing.

This is a very good birthday gift to any Yes fans out there. Both as a gift to yourself or someone you know.

The vocals is very much in the Jon Anderson vein. So is the rest of the musicians too. I am sorry, but this cannot be called anything other than a Yes clone just like their countrymen in Trespass was a Genesis clone.

When that is said, the music here is pretty good. The first two tracks Lady of Shalott and Cuckoo, both over sixteen minutes long, would not shame a Yes album. Both are complex, pastorial and pretty dynamic. The other three tracks, including not a particular alternative version of Cuckoo, is pretty good too. But the first two tracks are alone worthy the price of this album.

This is a good symphonic prog album and well worth checking out. The sound is a bit bad. But do not let that scare you off. It is a pity this band (consisting of 16-17 years old kids) only released this album. A second album could had been really great.

3.5 stars

Sounds like Yes. (I am only referring to disc 1.)

Yes, it sounds like Yes, especially because of the typical high pitched voice and the Bruford-style drumming. The keyboards, with frequent use of chord breaking, sometimes sound more like Genesis than Yes. The guitar player proved he listened a lot to Howe-Fripp-Hackett before he played his part. A special mention goes to the bass player, who plays fascinating virtuosic bass lines without imitating Squire at all.

The music is maybe a style copy of Yes with a pinch of Genesis, but it is not a compositional copy. I might be wrong, but the pieces sound like nothing I have heard before. The opener Lady of Shalott starts with a forte chord and immediatlely gets you gripped inside of the music. This and the second track Cuckoo are the highlights of the album. Both are well-structured songs in a light-hearted mood with nice melodies and intertwining of keyboard and guitar.

The other two tracks, which float into each other, are a bit darker, more rock and blues oriented, with good guitar work. Also the voice is lower. I hear a bit Ian Gillan influences in the vocals on "Love". Funny is the atari-sound like keyboard on these tracks.

The fifth song is an alternate version of Cuckoo which does not add anything special to the other version, perhaps except some more mellotron. But it is such a beautiful song I could listen to various versions of it.

I could listen to this album several times in a row in a joyful mood without ever getting bored. What, they were only 16 when they recorded it? I can hardly believe it. I wonder what became of the musicians?

Atmosphera's sole album is essentially a love letter to Yes. Like Druid, Atmosphera produce new compositions following the pattern set by The Yes Album and Fragile, and perform in a manner directly inspired by their heroes - bassist Alon Nadel in particular seems particularly good at creating a big Chris Squire bass sound. Unfortunately, the fuzzy production values on this album prevents it from ascending to the heights that Druid attained. Ultimately there are so many bands out there following the lead set by Yes, and I can't say that Atmosphera represent a blindingly amazing example of this sort of thing; the lack of any compositions of the complexity of Yes' from Close to the Edge to Relayer only underlines the gulf between the inspiring masters and the inspired apprentices. One to pick up if you absolutely cannot get enough of bands who try to sound like early Yes.

Hello Starcastle, Druid and other Yes derivative bands fans! This is surely for you!! I was amazed to find out that this Israeli group recorded this album in 1977. I mean, did anyone knew Israel had a prog band? And in thye 70´s? Yeah, I was amazed too. And they do play very well, by the way. The first two tracks are very much Yes unfluenced, vocalist Efrayim Barak emulating Jon Anderson so well one can only guess if he was not the man himself lending his voice to this group. The two other compositions that compromised the original LP are less Yes-like and more original, but they are also less interesting. While the perfomances are superb - guitarrist Moti Fonseka and drummer Ami Lipner are both specially skilled and creative - the production is understandable weak. The remastering for CD might have helped a little, but still is obvious those guys recorded under rather less than ideal conditions (the keyboards sound suffered the most). Still, they did a nice job.

This 2 CD version includes the whole original LP on the first disc, plus an alternative version of cuckoo. the second record has the video of the title track, two tunes from the LP recorded live, plus a few tracks from bands the members formed after Atmosphera broke up. This stuff is far more experimental and avant guard than their former outfit. Again it´s more interesting than really good.

Overall I liked the Lady Of Shalott work. It´s doubtless very symphonic and quite promising. Too bad they call it a day before developing some more. They surely have the chops and the talent to go a lot further than they did. Still, this CD is quite a find. It´s good to see that so many people were touched by prog music and tried hard to express their love for it everywhere.

Rating: 3.5 stars.

One of the most apparent clones of Yes even though coming from such unprog country such as Israel. All 5 musicians with with exception the keyboard player try hard to sound like classical Yes Lineup, the bass, drum players and the singer to be most successful clones.

I don't mind any band not sounding original as long as they can produce quality material and execute it flawlessly.

Atmosphera has mastered instruments and Yes sound well, though still miles away from the sovereign playing by Howe, Wakeman, Bruford and Squire.

Vocals are much more limited than Anderson's, keyboards are not varied and experimental, the bass playing is energetic enough to remind of Squire and the guitar player shows his own face easily.

The main problem with this album sounds elsewhere, however - the lads are not compositionally at the level of an average progressive rock band.

Considering average overly long original pieces and abundance of live and rare material of which none is memorable, the original album turns into an overwhelming listening experience.

Unless you are curious or are into this band already, no need to go for the bonus track edition.

2 stars what could be 2.5 if not for the bonus material that does not add any greater value.

i really dont understand people dissing this album just beacuse it sounded a bit like yes. every genre has its base. which in the prog music case its the mother bands such as yes king crimson etc. people take insperations from the roots. as you all know there are more then one band that their sound resembels a bit of every prog band you know. this band is nothing special in terms of the inspereation she took. back to the album and its contents. atmosphera. an israeli band (im an israeli myself) from the late 70s. The music in the album is melodic, classical and well-arranged. Efrayim Barak n the vocals pretty much naild it.high pitch sound that connects with music perfectly. the first track lady of shallot amused me so much and i whould like to excuse one point within this track which is near the end of it. the music sounds like it was going to end. and then it came back in a series of little drum solos. and a tune change which makes this song a great beggining to an album of its kind.