NIGHT ON BALD MOUNTAIN

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Superbly crafted 70's mellotron/moog laden progressive rock gem with great artistic expressionism and full instrumental interplay. "Night On Bald Mountain" was produced by KING CRIMSON's Ian McDonald who also contributes some sax on the album. Musicianship on this album is simply awesome with some of the most scrumptious interplay you have ever heard. Opening number 'Les Cathedrales' is absolutely in the same brilliance as early GENESIS with the most captivating and delicate of melodies. This five member band incorporate some wonderful musical instrumentation including xylophone, glockenspiel, chineese bell tree, gong, finger cymbals, tubular bells, triangle, hammond organ, pipe organ, celeste, mellotron, moog , Taurus pedals, and everyone's favourite... electronic devices. Vocals are quite well done with some great lyrics as well. "Night On Bald Mountain" contains 2 epic tracks and a couple of shorter but well pieced tracks. For those lucky enough to have snagged a copy of Setticlavio Record's (Italy) re-released CD pressing can also enjoy their second album as well... 7 extra bonus tracks from the album titled "Two Too" (1976)... although it is always nice to have this bonus material is ranks much lower IMHO than "Night On Bald Mountain" which is a great album and in my opinion an essential piece of Prog Land history !

Except on the weak production (by excluding this fact, you can rate this l.p. as "4 star and an half"), this 70's US work based upon the famous suite by Mussorgsky is excellent and with a personal imprinting of its own, despite of his clear reference to such symphonic works by YES. The excellent use of analogical keyboards such as "Mellotron" and "Mini-Moog", makes this album very captivating and quite essential in every "Progressive discography".

The debut-album "Night On Bald Mountain" from 1975 (produced by Ian McDonald from KING CRIMSON glory) is a bit unknown beauty, other USA prog rock bands NETHERWORLD and LIFT got far more attention from the prog fans all over the world. The twelve compositions (including seven bonus tracks, "all killers, no fillers" would Greg Walker from Syn-Phonic say) contain alternating and captivating music with strong echoes from early GENESIS and also GENTLE GIANT and YES. But many twists and turns give the music an original approach, including exciting arrangements from classic composers (MUSSORGSKY and DEBUSSY). The singer sounds powerful and has a wide range, the 'vintage' keyboards are very lush with spectacular synthesizer solos and the guitar work has a beautiful, 24- carat symphonic tradition. Highlight on this splendid CD is the epic title track (almost 20 minutes): wonderful changes of climate, great breaks, impressive pipe organ (evoking "Close to the edge" from YES) and beautiful HACKETT-like guitar work. Also worth mentioning is Ian McDonald's contribution to this album, he plays flute on two tracks and saxophone on two tracks, his sound is very distinctive. Highly recommended!

Another one of those little-known American prog rock bands, I noticed this country's prog rock scene consisted of very few bands that actually made it big, only KANSAS did, because they included uniquely American elements in their European-influenced prog sound. Most of the other bands were unlucky, only having small, local or regional labels back them up (good examples go to acts like CATHEDRAL or BABYLON) or they had to privately issue the album themselves. There were a few that were lucky to get on major labels, giving them at least a small chance for national exposure like STARCASTLE (Epic Records), HAPPY THE MAN (Arista) or ETHOS (Capitol), but of course, you know how American radio was to prog in the second half of the '70s (not exactly the most friendly, and they'd prefer the most AOR stuff from KANSAS).

FIREBALLET at least had the decency to record for Passport Records, a small label that at least was able to distribute nationwide, and had quite a few great prog acts on its roster (ARTHUR BROWN'S KINGDOM COME, CAPABILITY BROWN, NEKTAR, SYNERGY, BRAND X, etc.). As for the rule of American prog (with a few exceptions, of course), most of these bands were either from the Midwest or the East Coast, and FIREBALLET was no exception, they hailed from New Jersey, which was also the home to Passport Records. "A Night On Bald Mountain" was their debut, and best known for being produced by Ian McDonald, who was previously a member of KING CRIMSON, and later a member of the multi-platinum selling AOR act FOREIGNER (a band that I don't need to explain to those who have even the slightest knowledge in FM rock).

The band consisted of drummer Jim Cuomo, keyboardist Bryan Howe, guitarist Ryche Chlanda, keyboardist Frank Petto, and bassist Martyn Biglin, all credited to vocal duties aside from the bassist, and Cuomo was the guy responsible for the lead vocals. His vocals tended to be on the dramatic side, and he had to try to imitate a European accent.

To me, I thought the album sounded like GENESIS or YES playing the Mussorgsky and Debussy songbook. In fact the title track, of course, is the band doing a version of Mussorgsky's famous work, but they also included some Debussy in there too. I kept hearing how this album is a Mellotron masterpiece. Don't buy in to that, the Mellotron is used nowhere as many claim, I mostly hear it on the short "Atmospheres", that's it, really. I more hear the RMI electric piano/harpsichord, ARP 2600, and Hammond organ. "Les Cathedrales" find the band borring a theme from George Martin's "Theme One" (the one VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR covered as a single they released in 1972, and included on the American LP of "Pawn Hearts"). "Centurion (Tales of the Fireball Kids)" is a prime example of Jim Cuomo being dramatic in his vocals. Somewhere you hear a theme from Holst's "The Planets". Of course the band went and tackled on Mussorgsky's famous work, stretching around 18 minutes, the title track is a prog version of that work, but near the end, the band seemed to abandoned rock and put emphasis on pipe organ and more classical structures.

Around this time, Passport Records started promoting the Sansui QS quad-stereo unit (you can see this promo also on Synergy's Electronic Realizations For Rock Orchestra), from my understanding you can only get quad stereo from these titles if you owned a Sansui quad (and also my understanding was that reel-to-reels were better at quad than LPs).

Unfortunately the only way you can get this on CD is through a Brazilian label called Rock Symphony which they also paired their second album Two, Too (which is usually regarded as not so good as their debut, but I hadn't heard that album). Passport Records went belly-up around 1988, making many titles difficult to get reissued if they weren't on other labels (BRAND X was on Charisma in the UK and NEKTAR was on BELLAPHON in Germany, so that's why those titles ended up on CD reissues).

To me, I think "A Night on Bald Mountain" is a decent enough prog album, but I wouldn't call it essential. I think my problem is I preferred the band when the classical influences aren't as so obvious.

More overrated Ameri-prog. Yes, there's Moogs and Mellotrons galore, but that's really all this has going for it. Unlike a lot of bands that plunder from one or two famous British bands exclusively, they seem to snag a little bit from as many as they can: a smidgen of Yes here, a daub of Genesis there, a dash of Jethro Tull, a pinch of ELP, a wee dram of Van der Graaf Generator (the main theme from "Darkness 11/11" turning up clear as a bell on "Les Cathedrales". Add a heavy dose of 70's cheese (the kitschy classical quotes, the strident "ah ah" vocals on the long title suite, the corny fantasy/medieval lyrics) and you're left with an album you're embarrassed to let your friends know you listen to. Extra demerits for the back cover, with the band in SCA outfits, probably the most stereotypical prog band photo ever (well, up until the dominance of cheesy fantasy-metal acts like Rhapsody, anyway).

2.5 stars. Man,this was a letdown.I certainly don't mind bands that are derivitive,but to be polite these guys have borrowed more from other bands then they have come up with on their own.The whole record,save for the song "Atmospheres" seems so uninspired.And don't believe the mellotron hype either,according to Planetmellotron.com the only song with mellotron in it is "Atmospheres".And i do feel that this is the best song on the record,it's quite beautiful,gentle vocals and piano.There is a definite YES/GENESIS vibe going on,on this album ,with some classical music thrown into the mix.It's not a bad record,but i can't recommend it.

'Night on bald mountain' was released in 1975 by the US band 'Fireballet'. The record, which was produced by Ex King Crimson Ian McDonald mixes influences and citations from 'Genesis', 'Yes', 'ELP' and 'King Crimson' together with their own compositions centered around the main theme of Moussorsky's 'Night On Bald Mountain', into a symphonic firework. Not unlike 'The Flower Kings' some years later , 'Fireballet' knows how to place a good citation or a 'In-The-Manner-Of' passage without getting too heavy or iconoclastic and combines them with interesting material.

'Les cathédrales', a dynamic track, starts with a heavy intro followed by a moody atmosphere supported by keys and cymbals. A moog line, and some Howish guitar lead into the main theme, build around an ELP (Tarkus) citation. A short instrumental passage for sax and distorted guitar leads back to the main theme, followed by a 'Genesis' citation ('Fountain Of Salmacis') , a quiet choir passage and ending with another 'Genesis' citation from 'Foxtrott'.

'Centurion''s theme is introduced by the Moog, reminding again ELP, followed by a guitar solo and a reprise of the main theme and ending with another ELP (BrainSalad Surgery) citation .

'The fireballet' an uptempo track, is dedicated to 'Yes', with a brillant 'Yes-like' mulitpart vocal arrangement, followed by 'Genesis' and a 'Ekseption' moods and ending with a classical march for acoustic piano, the best track on the record.

'Atmospheres' , a Tresspass-Genesis-like track builds up a moody athmosphere featuring the 12 string guitar.

Side two contains the long suite 'Night On Bald Mountain', build around the main them of the Moussorsky composition, and the weakest track on the record. It lacks the tension of the shorter tracks on the first side. The track starts with a citation of the Moussorsky main theme, followed by a long instrumental passage, that leads into the melody of King Crimson's 'Epitaph' (with different lyrics) another long instrumental passage including a sax solo, some Hackett & Howe guitar, a citation from 'Close To The Edge', a reprise of the 'Epitaph' theme and ending with some heavy Uriah Heep organ.

A brillant record and a lesson in Prog at the same time!

This album is a great travel in time for me. I purchased it a the time of release after having read the review of "Piero Kenroll" in "Télémoustique" a Belgian weekly magazine in which six pages were dedicated to rock music. His review was so favourable that I rushed out to buy this record (at Metrophone in Brussels for the old Belgian readers of this site...).

He was basically writing that this album was a musical kaleidoscope of the great prog bands of the early seventies. And he was no wrong of course.

"Les Cathédrales" is a long and complex song which is fully Genesis and KC oriented (their symphonic side). Very powerful intro, lots of rhythm changes, beautiful key passages, great sax. Vocals are not really convincing but they aren't too many.

"Centurion" is almost a tribute to ELP while Yes sits just around the corner during "The Fireballet". The voice being a real clone to Jon's one, the guitar fully in Steve's style. This might have been "Starcastle" raison-d'être.

If you like "Trespass" then there is no reason that you won't be attracted by "Atmospheres". Full of tranquility, this nice acoustic piece would have perfectly fit on this great album. Flute and mellotron are just beautiful. I like this song very much.

The long epic song is a prog approach of a well-known classical piece of music written by Mussorgsky. Not being an adept of classical music, I have no clue how the original sounds but I have spun this version an awful lot of times.

Each movement flows very well one into the other. The beat is mostly rather rocking and powerful during the first half. This type of interpretation (and at times the keys sounds) will automatically remind you the ELP style of music. The light and subtle part "The Engulfed Cathedrale" is fully Yes oriented ("Close..." or "Ritual") gives us a wonderful symphonic break. Towards the end of the song, a great cresendo featuring some "Child In Time" elements is even featured. The finale is a pure jewel of a melody.

I believe that this part of the album is just great. A wonderful epic. Not very original of course, but wonderful.

In those days, no mention of plagiarism, just a great overview of different prog styles. This album has not aged very well, I'm afraid. I cannot imagine the reaction of a proghead discovering this album in 2007 but it reminds me so many souvenirs that I tend to be very indulgent with it (as I will for several other albums, for the same reasons).

If you like Yes and you are not too harsh with bands emulating this great and influent one, you will be very pleased with this record.

Four stars.

Good but Not Original or Essential

Since I remember, people has mentioned FIREBALLET as one of the most outstanding USA Symphonic bands, and mention "Night in the Bald Mountain" as a true masterpiece, well, until last week, I had only heard fragments and one or two times a full album in a friends house, and sounded OK.

So after some years I decided to buy the album and found a copy of the 1975 - 1975 version with seven bonus tracks, must say that I'm not so impress, it's true that the guys show great musicianship and presents us some good ideas, but they are not able to keep a good balance, mixing excellent material, with songs that border cheesiness and are derivative to an extreme, so without more talking, let's check the tracks.

The album is opened with "Les Cathédrales" which introduces the listener to a good Prog opener plethoric of guitars, organs and radical changes which go from a heavy start to an atmospheric mood reminiscent of Genesis, more obvious when they almost copy parts of Fountain of Salmacis plus a couple more GENESIS references, 100% Prog, pretty good but anything except original.

After the tem minutes opener, it's time for "Centurion", a pompous track in the vain of ELP but even closer to TRIUMVIRAT, the vocal section is somehow disappointing, because Jim Cuomo looses the perspective and the key at some points. Followed by ore ELP references, the song goes till the end with some interesting changes.

"The Fireballet" opens with a very FOCUS influenced introduction that seems taken from "Moving Waves", but suddenly a chorus interrupts what sounded very coherent, maybe I'm too harsh, but the vocal work sounds less than average. Then comes an instrumental break with clear ELP similarities (again) but less inspired, the chorus keeps coming back and sounds worst every time. The final section mainly in piano gives a boost to a mediocre track.

"Atmospheres" starts clearly based in GENESIS, it's nice, soft but lacks of energy (which is the main attribute of the band), the arrangements are very good, but after a couple minutes turns into too predictable and bores a bit.

Well, the center piece of the album is "Night on the Bald Mountain" and FIREBALLET hit us with everything they have, now the band achieves what I expect from a Prog band when covering a classical theme, the band does all the job, almost no orchestral additions and they still accomplish success..But hey, isn't the first change a copy of Karn Evil 9 followed by another copy of "The Magician's Birthday"?

What the hell, it sounds great and we know that their strength is not in the originality. Several changes, more references to another bands (King Crimson included) and dramatic moments make of this 18 minutes track a good Prog moment.

As usual will avoid reviewing the bonus tracks, because I like to listen the album it was created to be released and to be honest, the extra material is way bellow the level of te original release.

Now how to rate them? Four stars is too much because something so derivative can't be considered remotely essential, but two stars is way too little for such adisplay of musicianship, so I will go with 3 very solid stars that could be 3.5 of the system was able to accept them.

If you're a fan of te 70's, you will like this album, and could add an extra interest making a trivia contest with your friends trying to find the references.

Very interesting prog band from the USA. It is only a pity they never fulfliled their obvious potential. This first album clearly shows a bunch of very capable musicians trying hard to emulate their heroes and - at the same time - deliver something of their own. This second part is hardly achieved, but I believe that, giving time, they would eventually come up with something really strong and original. But, alas, that was not to be.

So what we have here? A very well done collection of prog songs, albeit highly derivative too. Produced by ex King Crimson and future Foreigner member, Ian Mcdonald (certainly one of their heroes who gets a special prasing mention on the album´s credits), it has quite some fine moments, although the excess of quotes (raging from Yes to ELP to Uriah Heep and King Crimson) is a bit annoying after some time. You can tell their influences easily and very often it seems they cannot make up their minds if they want to be Yes, ELP or Genesis (Atmospheres is pure Genesis around Trespass period).

In the end you get the feeling they could do a lot more if they only had persisted on this path for one or two more works. For what they have left, Night On Bald Mountain is promising, but nothing more than that. Their excellent musicanship and good taste is enough to warrant 2,5 stars, but just that. Don´t expect anything original or new, but rather a bunch of skilled guys completely in awe for their idols.

Fireballet is an underrated american band from mid '70's. They released only two albums, one of them is this one entitled Night on bald mountain, this would be the first one from 1975. A pleasent surprise for me, after I saw how low rated are both albums, specially the second one. Well we not talking here about some masterpiece or something close, but a very pleasent and enjoyble album. Fireballet are influenced from the british masters like Genesis and Yes . Genesis come in mind when I'm talking about this first album and Yes. Arrangements almost like on these bands, some of them I swear are from Genesis ( Nursery cryme era or Foxtrot) ex is the piece Atmospheres, american aswer to Genesis, and Yes, specially at choruses. The music is far from being bad, but is not realy special either that some of the rewievers consider this album to be, ok is well played and has it momets, but something is missing. Symphonic prog is all over the album, but is not so consistent like other american prog albums from that period. All 5 pieces stands as good for me, one of them , the title track is over 18 min of symphonic journey, the rest are ok. So, I will give 3.5 stars, and because I'm a symphonic lover among other subgeners and above all this album is not boring I would give another half star, so 4 stars, but is less intristing and catchy than other 4 star albums that I've given here in prog archives.

Night On Bald Mountain is the first of only two albums released by Fireballet, a prog band in the symphonic vein from the USA, but this album has more in common with the UK prog scene than the kind of bands that were coming out of America in the seventies. A five piece band, Fireballet have the benefit of two keyboard players alongside their guitar /bass/drums line up. Flute and alto sax is added by Ian Mcdonald of King Crimson fame who also produces the album, admittedly doing nothing more than an adequate job.

Five tracks in total, though a later Cd edition has the benefit of the addition of seven bonus tracks. The previously mentioned UK prog scene influence is noticeable in the Yes and in particular Genesis influences. Listen to Atmospheres twelve string guitar arpeggios and flute for a strong pastoral Genesis feel in particular. The first four shorter songs, although Les Cathedrales does reach the eleven minute mark are all worthy additions with lots pleasing instrumental interplay, particular in the duel keyboard team of Bryan Howe and Frank Petto who should please vintage Hammond, Moog and Mellotron lovers. It has to be said that the vocals are not the bands strongest point though.

Les Cathedrales makes a fine opener which after an atmospheric start turns into something that sounds a bit like Theme one by Van Der Graaf Generator in places, that is until it develops a bit of a reggae theme, thankfully short lived. It's a song of many twists and turns with some nice light and shade touches.

The undoubted album highlight though is easily the title track. At almost nineteen minutes long it's a relatively undiscovered epic and prog gem. Though there's more bombastic moments it works particularly well in the quieter parts where ethereal beauty are the keywords. Some of the backing vocals bear more than a passing resemblance to Uriah Heep and Mcdonald adds some sax flourishes. Once again though it's the keyboard work that makes it such a strong piece, with some particularly enjoyable and powerful pipe organ and Hackett-esque guitar work.

This Cd will no doubt be very hard to find these days but despite not being an outright classic lovers of seventies symphonic prog will find much to enjoy here and would be advised to grab it sharpish if lucky enough to come across a copy.