BURNIN' RED IVANHOE

I wouldn't go that far to call BRI's second release a definite masterpiece in progressive music but certainly it should be considered as one of the top albums from 1970 and one of the best ones in proto prog generally. They recorded this disc in London and thus have been of the first Danish bands who managed to publish something in Prog's home country. Songs on here are showing basically a nice almost Canterburian kind of looseness combined with a distinct bluesrock orientation. At times the atmosphere brings Caravan to one's mind though BRI are having here with Karsten Vogel and Kim Menzer two musicians playing brass and wind instruments (sax, flute, trombone and mouthorgan).

First side of the original vinyl is offering with "Across The Windowsill" a quite breezy piece dominated by sax and organ with bluesy vocals that remind to Van Morrison. "Canaltrip" basically consists of an extended rather soft sax solo accompanied by percussion and acoustic guitar. "Rotating Irons" is more a sluggish bluesrock track dominated by electric guitar and backed up by organ and great mouthorgan play. To me it sounds a bit like a variation of "Season Of The Witch" by The Zombies but I might be wrong.

Second side starts with the all instrumental jazz rock track "Gong Gong, The Elephant Song" with alternating solos by trombone, sax and mouthorgan. "Near The Sea" is a ballad with great flute play and the final "Secret Oyster Service", obviously a sort of tribute to their country fellowmen is an excellent jazz rock one with dual saxophone coming close to free-form jazz at times. This one is without any doubts the highlight on here.

BRI's second album is certainly their best and most coherent one offering an awesome blend of blues and jazz rock. Highly recommended to any fan of early 70's Prog!

With their second album (this time a single), BRI maintains the impressive standard that they had managed on the double debut, but the line-up was reduced by a pair and was left a quintet. And in terms of musical adventures, there are a few progressions, but the eponymous album is proud successor of M144. Still with Colosseum as one of the most evident influence, BRI pulls a much more consistent second album with many excellent jazz rock tracks pulling more towards the brass rock of Chicago Transit Authority rather than the future fusion-like Miles Davis or Tony Williams.

Recorded in London and produced by Tony Reeves (of.. Colosseum, small world uh?), this album presents many longer tracks (only the final track of M144 was above the 5:30 min mark) giving effectively more interplay time to Vogel, Menzer and new guitarist Fick. There is less of the downright blues influences of their debut as they have given way to a much more satisfying psychey-jazz feel. Great tracks like Windowsill, Gong Gong Elephant Song (what where these guys smoking?), and the closing slow-developping Secret Oyster Bar

Great acoustic Canaltrip, the still-bluesy lengthy jam-like Rotating Irons and the poppy (still have to sell albums, right?) Near The Sea, all round up the album in a very pleasant manner.

Much an improvement over their debut album, BRI's second album is certainly the album you should start with along with its successor W.W.W. Although BRI is not absolutely essential to a proghead's collection, I find it still quite enjoyable and should you only have 5 albums from Denmark, BRI or W.W.W. are sure to take one of those spots.

Chronologicaly BURNIN' RED IVANHOE have to be the first progressive rock band from Denmark,as they were formed in 1967 and by 1969 they had already released their debut ''M144'',an album which came like an hybrid between rock,blues,soul and jazz with folk touches.Weirdly their second release carried the band;s name as a title and was published a year later.

Their sound had now a more specific orientation and they added also some good doses of psychedelia for good measure.At times BURNIN' RED IVANHOE like to rock,as the music is led by the excellent bluesy riffs helped by Ole Fick's fantastic voice.Soon their sound turns into a psychedelic form dominated by jazzy solos and light improvisations,based on superb saxes and flutes...and there is also some harmonica playing in the game,making the whole thing even closer to psych/blues.Drummer Bo Andersen handles also some nice percussion and the music goes straight to its folkish side.The whole result is absolutely unique,regarding that this is 1970 and the prog thing had not yet fully developed.''Burnin' red Ivanhoe'' is among the best early jazz/prog album I've heard and certainly in the top-10 of all 1970 prog-related works.An essential find!...4 solid stars!

The selftitled second Studio Album from Danish act Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe was released in 1970. The debut album from 1969 called M144 is a really excellent album and one of the most important Danish progressive releases. Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe even enjoyed some success in both UK, Germany and the rest of the Scandinavian countries which was ( and still is) very rare for a Danish band.

The music is bluesy jazz/ rock very much in the vein of bands like Colosseum and Audience. On this second album there is a much more dominant experimental jazz/ rock touch to songs like Canaltrip and Secret Oyster Service compared to the style on the debut, while the blues influence is clearly heard on Rotating Irons and Across the Windowsill. Near the Sea is a mellow song. Gong-Gong, The Elephant Song is also in experimental jazz/ rock territory with dominant brass work. The main theme reminds me a bit about The Mothers of Invention ( King Kong). There is also a harmonica solo in that song.

The musicianship is excellent. Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe was and still is one of the most accomplished bands in Denmark. The two brass players Kim Menzer and Karsten Vogel dominate the music but the vocals from Ole Fick which this time is solely sung in English are also really good. Jess Stæhr on bass and Bo Thrige Andersen on drums also makes for a really tight and excellent rythm section.

The production is excellent. Organic, pleasant and well sounding.

M144 stands for me as one of the most groundbreaking and important progressive releases in Danish music history and that´s pretty hard to compete with. Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe is a bit too much in experimental jazz/ rock territory for my taste. Not unlike Soft Machine really even though this album is much better than anything Soft Machine ever did after the first two albums. This is still a good album though and it deserves 3 stars IMO.

For me BURNIN RED IVANHOE's second album is on a par with the debut. This one doesn't reach the highs that it's predecesor did but it's more consistant and overall a little more enjoyable for me. I like the way they've stretched these songs out too, they're much longer than what we saw on the debut.

"Across The Windowsill" is a good opener with the focus on the strong vocals. This one's catchy and I like the tasteful guitar at 1 1/2 minutes that goes on and on as organ, bass and drums support. Vocals return around 3 1/2 minutes, sax a minute later. "Canaltrip" is a jazzy, trippy tune with mostly sax and drums throughout. "Rotating Irons" is a bluesy track with harmonica.

"Gong-Gong,The Elephant Song" has lots of horns and cymbals until it kicks in before a minute. I like the beat here. It settles after 3 minutes then kicks back in quickly. "Near The Sea" is a laid back tune with guitar and light drums early as vocals join in. Flute after 2 1/2 minutes. "Secret Oyster Service" is the almost 10 minute closing track. Not much going on here,some dissonance around 3 minutes then it kicks in before 5 minutes.

This is a band I enjoy, but as yet I really haven't been bowled over by them yet. 3.5 stars.