NOVA SOLIS

Morgan Fisher is a genius.

There, I said it. I mean, how else could he make some of the most inventive and interesting prog rock on the planet and end up in his late 50s writing music for commercials in Japan, and getting a pretty penny for it I would hope. Sounds like a good gig to me, and a good life lived for this king of B-list prog, master of the sideshow and winner of countless Best Music No One Really Cares About awards. I don't know, maybe Fisher's playfulness appeals to me (something usually missing from today's prog). Or maybe his truly impressive musical range and compositional gifts are just too hard to ignore despite the funhouse feeling on this debut from 1972. And then there's the spectacle. All I know is Nova Solis is spilling over with atmosphere and imagery, and the fact is that Morgan Fisher gave more on his records than many of the bigger names of the time. It's an album wherein, as John Lennon said of Mr. Kite; "You should be able to smell the peanuts".

Solis is an extravaganza of what had become possible with the rock format, a parade of idea after idea passing like giant floats, each eagerly waiting in line to be revealed. This is prog when things were closer to the wild west, with as many snakeoil salesmen and roaming criminals as reliable merchants and ranchers. But among the scoundrels, Morgan Fisher and songwriting partner Tim Staffell were legit. Simply put, this LP was the sh*t-- the absolutely real thing, authentic, strong as aged goat cheese and stinking of a far off place where no good things were happening. It's what the guys who have heard it all and know classic era prog inside & out quietly listen to when no one else is around. Every aging, coffee-swilling cigarette smoker with a bad hankerin' for prog and a tragically steady paycheck who's collection from Britain between 1969 and 1979 is larger than that thing they launched the space shuttle from will deny to their death this is the godsmack of second tier symphonic prog. But it is and they know it.

Similarities are hard to peg for these guys, it was such an original group. Certainly the brilliant descriptive and incidental work of Raymond Scott is apparent in Fisher's material, as well as Syd Barrett's sense of adventure, the circuses of Dave Greenslade and maybe a whiff of Zappa. 'Samarkhand the Golden' is wonderful vintage stuff enhanced liberally by Fisher's VCS 3 synth, Hohner & DK 1, Mo Bacon's eager drums and bassist Rob Sapsed doing a heroic job enhancing Fisher and Staffell's arrangement. Derivative 'Alone' is a miss but 'War Games' rocks, Bacon tearing up his drums, Staffell's vaguely biblical lyric and giddy vocal, and Fisher terrific on all number of keys from a Steinway Grand to a Hammond to a Spinet as he knits up the background, always sure to never let a good moment go to waste. Holst's 'Jupiter' from The Planets starts the second half, the nine part title piece. It's not long before things start melting apart into sound effects and space sickness but Morgan picks it up and pumps out the prog; mean organ flurries, unexpected jazzplay, piano lines merging into squealing synths, descriptive mood-setting, carousels, calliopes, histrionic dramaturgy, and more Holst at the end.

A one of a kind release by a band that epitomised the working prog musician and what a few inspired guys could do with some good equipment. Someday along your listening journey, Morgan Fisher's work deserves your attention. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow. But soon, and for the rest of your life.

I purchased this album primarily because I wanted to see what Tim Staffel got up to after leaving Smile. As a big Smile fan (as big a fan as one can be for a group that released only 6 songs clocking in for a total of less than 30 minutes), I had hoped for a bit of that Smile sound in this album. I wasn't quite sure what to expect of keyboardist Fisher, as I knew he would later go on to Mott the Hoople, and although a fan of that band, I wasn't sure how much in terms of "chops" the guy had. I was disappointed on neither account.

The vocal portions are quite reminiscent of the Smile/early Queen sound, especially on the Staffel penned "Alone" and on the chorus of "War Games" and of course on the old Smile tune "Earth" which made its way into the middle of the epic "Nova Solis". As others have said, the instrumental work reminds me a lot of ELP, that is bombastic, pretentious and a whole lot of fun. Fisher tackles the keys as ably as Emerson, and the bassist and drummer (Robert Sapsed and Mo Bacon respectively) are more than capable of keeping up and providing some over the top playing to go along with the over the top keyboard work of Fisher.

The epic "Nova Solis" is actually three songs, "Floating", the previously mentioned "Earth" and "May I Remember" connected with interwoven instrumental passages composed by Fisher (think Tarkus here). "Alone" is more of an accoustic song and definitely reminds of Smile, and a bit of the more accoustic ELP style. "War Games" has a bouncy, rhythmic piano during the verses, and the choruses are definitely Smile or early Queen in their sound. The opening track, "Samarkhand the Golden" kicks things off with ample amounts of pomp. This is an easy 4-star album, a great edition to anyone's prog collection. If you are a fan of Smile or early-Queen and ELP, add a star, as this is essential listening.

This was Morgan's debut album, released in 1972. Along with Morgan Fisher (keys) were Tim Staffell (acoustic guitar/vocals, always to be remembered as the singer in Smile which was the pre-Queen outfit), bassist Bob Sapsed and drummer Maurice Bacon. Listening to this album now, for the first time on CD, it is interesting to hear just how similar this is in many ways to ELP. Morgan shows himself to be a fine keyboard player who loved to use his moog and mellotron whenever possible. While there are very complex pieces here (the closing title cut is over twenty minutes long), there is even a Greg Lake?style acoustic number "Alone", which Tim apparently performed at his audition with the band and got himself the gig. Although parts of it do sound quite dated, it is an album that I think any lover of classic ELP will also enjoy. It is different enough not to be called copyist, while at the same time still maintaining certain similarities. Anybody approaching this album for the first time will be pleasantly surprised. Although there are no bonus cuts, there is plenty of extra information and photographs, as one would expect from an Angel Air release.

Originally appeared in Feedback #60

An obscure British prog-rock band from the early Seventies, Morgan took their name from keyboard player Morgan Fisher (a future member of Mott the Hoople), so it should come as no surprise that his playing dominates much of the music! Performing in a mostly symphonic style with plenty of spacey flourishes and pop vocal melodies on their 1972 debut `Nova Solis', he was ably supported by Robert Sapsed's nicely fat and upfront bass, with Maurice Bacon's thrashing and busy charge of drums/percussion constantly powering behind the oceans of keyboards. Guitars are absent with the exception of short acoustic passages supplied by vocalist Tim Staffel, forever associated with his connection to the pre-Queen band Smile that featured guitarist Brian May and drummer Roger Taylor. Sadly he sometimes falls back on a painful falsetto, but other times his confidence and optimism perfectly carries the music forwards, and the band often deliver passages similar to those found on King Crimson, Greenslade and Argent albums from the same era.

The first side presents three short to medium length pieces, all of them crossing back and forth between grand symphonic themes, dazzling instrumental prowess and slick rock/pop melodies. Opener `Samarkand the Golden' is the punchiest and most tightly-written moment on the disc, full of grooving spasms powered by Maurice's snappy drumming, Robert's grumbling and deliciously aggressive bass, and no shortage of creaking King Crimson-flavoured infernal Mellotron, glistening electric piano and bubbling Moog tastiness from Morgan. Tim's voice moves between high-pitched croons and gutsier snarls, sometimes reminding of Greenslade/Samurai vocalist Dave Lawson as well. It serves him well on ballad `Alone', delivering a nice variety of weary treated lead vocals in the verses that turn warmly optimistic for the chorus, plus his ethereal background harmonies are haunting. Instrumentally it sits somewhere alongside the softer melancholic moments on the first few King Crimson albums, but an instrumental interlude in the middle is grand and dreamy in the classic Genesis manner.

The up-tempo and excited `War Games' reminds of both Argent and parts of Curved Air, letting rip with ravishing electric piano runs and dazzling harpsichord-like keys to provide a boppy infectiousness, but the overexcited lead vocal is a little on the grating side. The entire second side is then made up of a nine-part suite, loaded with a variety of ambitious ideas. It opens with a grand whirring lead theme that bookends the epic, moving through everything from slightly obnoxious jazzy poppy vocal pieces, droning ambience, aimless spacey noodling ala `Moonchild' off the Crimson debut, more inviting acoustic guitar balladry and loopy runaway instrumentals that again call to mind Greenslade, and it's certainly an eclectic set of fragmented ideas.

`Nova Solis' proves to be a real grower of a prog-rock work, with just a few little issues perhaps holding it back from achieving true greatness. Although the vocals are hardly a deal-breaker, it must be said that the disc really takes off every time the singing stops, allowing the instrumental playing to soar to greater heights. The extended side-long suite on the second side also doesn't flow together particularly well, but admittedly all the individual little ideas and segments sound plenty tasty on their own merits even if they're never developed properly into something more cohesive. But the album is likely to be a keyboard lovers paradise, is full of positive energy, melodic tunes and excited playing from all the performers, and it makes Morgan and `Nova Solis' a very worthwhile addition for those prog-rock collectors looking for lesser known but still plenty rewarding extras to add to their library.

Three and a half stars.

(Dedicated to Mike Hewetson, the biggest `Nova Solis' fan I know!)