LIVE AT SUNRISE STUDIOS

This is a trio from Switzerland with a CD release featuring the four songs from the original LP (1976) and seven bonustracks. The range of vintage keyboards is impressive: Mellotron, Hammond B3 organ, Minimoog synthesizer, Farfisa organ and acoustic - and electric piano. The compositions sound pleasant but a bit fragmentic, like a bunch of nice ideas during a jam session. The guitar work is fiery but there are only a few soli. The most obvious hint is early Yes. The bonustracks feature more instrumental variation like a sitar and more lush keyboard sound. Highlight is the track Honey Moon delivering awesome Mellotron waves but Feelings Without Name is also wonderful with Spanish guitar and flute. A fine album with some beautiful moments.

KEDAMA were this trio out of Switzerland with a guitar/drum/keyboard setup but the guitarist also adds keyboards so we often have dual keyboards throughout this recording. The group won a best band contest for their live performances and the prize was studio time at Sunrise Studios. So the original album from 1976 had four tracks on it but the first ever re-issue of this album in 1999 on cd brought about a bunch of bonus tracks. Five tracks from an almost completed second album from 1977 and two from their contributions to a compilation record from 1973 they were featured on along with some other Swiss bands. So over 72 minutes of music including the bonus material and the bonus stuff is well worth having, in fact of my top five songs on here three are from the extra material that was added. Strange that this band sort of disappeared then returned to create six studio albums in the 00's then they vanished once more.

I'm so impressed with their sound. The music is often dense and complex and therefore difficult to enjoy with a variety of keyboards including synths, mellotron, farfisa, electric piano and more. I did not think of another band during my many listens. I just sort of sat back in wonder at what they came up with. The mellotron is incredible in places, I mean this could be called a mellotron record and it spans the album from start to finish.

The opener and closer of the original four song album are top five tracks for me. The opener is quite the introduction to the band. Powerful with organ runs early then the guitar lights it up before we get some nasty sounding keyboards with distortion. A calm with mellotron and drums follows. The mellotron floods the soundscape after 2 minutes as it all gets louder. Dense and complex but also mellotron heaven right here. It turns heavy with piano over top but this song changes on a dime like the complete 180 they do at 4 minutes. Great sound late to end it. "Zugabe" like all four original tracks has plenty of mellotron on it and this one like the opener gets quite heavy at times. Keyboards are all over this early on. A guitar melody starts to come and go duplicated by a keyboard before the organ arrives and a heavier sound. Synths sound like birds 6 minutes in as mellotron and guitar expressions help out. Beautiful sounds end it. All four tracks are really good by the way.

The two songs from the unfinished second album that standout for me are "Chinese Dragon" which could have been on the debut it would have fit right in with the complexity, mellotron and density. "Honey Moon" might be the best track on this whole recording period. For the mellotron and mellow sounds but also the intensity after 1 1/2 minutes. How about the mellotron choirs though! "Two Souls In Space" from that sampler shows the band early on from 1973 and this does sound different especially early on with that haunting sound with mellotron. There's some solo mellotron string sections on here to die for.

Again I was taken aback at how difficult the music is here, going into avant territories quite often but that's part of the charm isn't it? Legendary stuff and a solid 4 stars.