NOT ONLY MAD

Ater their varied and promising debut album Masque from 1982 (fine blend of folk, blues, rock and symphonic), almost ten years later Mad Puppet made a second effort entitled Not Only Mad (1991) that sounded totally different! Most of the 10 compositions contain swinging rhythms. It's very pleasant and tasteful arranged but to me it sounds too polished and predictable. Only the songs Suicide Of Waterfall and th elong You delivers a Mad Puppet from their first album. This change of direction could be analysed with the role by the drummer Günter Falser: on the first album he was the last mentioned in the line-up and now he is the first mentioned, this reminds me of a certain Phil Collins .... !

After the promising debut album released in 1982 Mad Puppet went through some line up changes and many problems. Their sophomore album, "Not Only Mad", wasn't released until 1991 with a line up featuring the veterans Manfred Kaufmann (keyboards), Manfred Schweigkofler (vocals), Christoph Senoner (guitar) along with the new members Günter Falser (drums, percussion) and Thomas Pichler (bass, clarinet). During the recording sessions the band was helped by two guest musicians as well, Hans Tutzer (sax) and Ray S. Rasp (vocals). This time Mas Puppet tried to shape a more conventional, mainstream sound and prog lovers could find highly disappointing their stylistic choice. On the album you can find some good ideas and some tracks, such as "Suicide Of Waterfall", "Gonzalo" or "You", are pleasant but sometimes the overall sound really seems closer to a kind of dark, synthetic pop than to progressive rock. Well, listening to this album you will set off on musical trip that will take you closer to Roxy Music's Avalon than to the court of the crimson king. All in all this work rarely strikes the right chords and it is "neither hot nor cold"... but maybe my criticism is too harsh!

Well, you can listen to the complete album and legally download it for free from the official website of the band, so judge by yourselves!