MINORISA

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The music featured on "Minorisa" is some of the most original keyboard-based prog that I've heard. FUSIOON's music is somewhat impossible to describe, but I can tell you that the album is made up of 3 long tracks. The first two tracks feature energetic, and playful, interaction between the guitarist and keyboardist. The listener will find a great mixture of symphonic and Spanish influences where the closest comparison that comes to my mind is Le ORME from Italy. My only complaint here is that the last track doesn't fit the atmosphere of the album. This track is basically an 8-minute analog electronic exploration. If the band had written just one more track similar to the first two tracks, this album would have been a masterpiece. Alas, expect 30-minutes of intense prog and 8-minutes of electronic noodling.

FUSIOON is a Spanish quartet, in the first half of the Seventies they released three albums entitled "Fusioon I" (1972), "Fusioon II" (1974) and "Minorisa" (1975). Their best effort is the third record entitled "Minorisa", containing three long tracks. The first two tracks are an amazing blend of KING CRIMSON, GENTLE GIANT, ELP and even TANGERINE DREAM (flute- Mellotron like the "Phaedra-era") with lots of captivating musical moments, lush keyboards and strong interplay (guitar, keyboards, flute, bass). The third song is a maverick: a kind of sound collage, very electronic like TANGERINE DREAM, SYNERGY and Klaus Schulze with flute Mellotron, all kind of synthesizer sounds and fat Moog runs, a bit weird and not really satisfying end of this good album.

This one would be really an excellent album, just if there would not be the third track. The first two are great ones offering everything what a proghead's heart is desiring, complexity, fantastic keyboards-guitar interplay and just the right degree of strangeness without becoming too "pretentious". But the third one is much more than superfluous, it's just boring minimalistic electronic noodling and although it's the shortest one of the three it's still much much too long (exactly 8 minutes and 6 seconds too long). And since there is just a bit less than 30 minutes left of good music, it's just too little to deserve a fourth star. Still a quite good album, but I'm hesitating to call it an essential one. I'd give another half star if possible!

Fusioon's final effort is their absolute masterpiece; "Minorisa" finds the band expanding their talent all the way up to their maximum intensity and to their most bizarre level of creativity. The three long tracks that fill the 37-minute time span of the album comprise some of the best prog music ever made in Spain's rock history, and generally speaking, it is a real treat for all those who enjoy good, original and exciting prog from any country in the world. The 19- minute monster suite 'Ebusus' kicks off the album with full splendour and immense extravagance: elegance and weirdness fuse into a sole sonic force during this multi-varied musical journey. The wide spectrum comprised in 'Ebusus' includes: jazz-rock, GG-influenced counterpoints and chord progressions, Zappa-esque vocal harmonies, touches of RIO-instilled moods, Arabic nuances, Catalonian folk, some Crimsonian guitar leads, Canterbury, "Mirage"-era Camel, surrealistic mellotron and synth adornments. and after all, the final result turns out to be quite unique. The guys of Fusioon actually managed to sound original beyond the myriad of influences that they evidently absorbed as writers and performers. It is also very odd that this sidelong track's structure feels so flexible and apparently chaotic, yet, if you listen from a deeper level, you will notice a distinct solidness that builds up a powerful cohesion that sustains the sequence of all successive sections and the reprises of some of them. What else can I say? 'Ebusus' is a gem in itself; this one alone makes this album worth the while of any particularly demanding prog aficionado. But let's not overlook the other two numbers, since they are great, too. The 11- minute namesake suite starts with a somber overture of Moog and bass guitar before the grand piano gets in to lay down the basic chords for the more epic "second" overture; the main motifs than come along soon after display an exquisite combination of Baroque-based symph prog and Catalonian prog in a very similar way to their fellow band Atila (and, to a lesser degree, similar to iceberg as well). The interplaying is as solid as it was for the first suite, but this time the bizarreness is a bit less intense: the band's major concern is focused on the melodic development of the main motifs for the 'Minorisa' suite. A special mention has to go to a beautiful pastoral passage that appears somewhere in the middle - a moment of captivating magic in the middle of the overall pompous frame that articulates and outlines the track's structure. The closure is a two-part Fripp & Eno-meets-Schulze electronic exploration: 'Llaves del Subconsciente' is a tour-de-force massively constructed on a foundation of synthesizer and mellotron, with additional processed sounds (guitar, piano, falsetto) soaring around in a most inscrutable manner. Even though it may sound a bit out of place to some, I personally find it very effective: something like an avant-garde manifesto, the announcement of the destruction of music as we know it (after many of its possible facets has been show in the previous two numbers) and a call for its most radical renewal in the present. General conclusion: a masterpiece!

3,5 stars really!!!

Last album from one of the most impressive group coming from the Iberic Peninsula, also maybe the least accessible but the most lauded one by progheads. Just three tracks (the Cd actually breaks down the last experimental track into two parts) and one of them a side- long epic. As it goes for the other two albums, they are incredibly tight here too, their unchanged line-up being one of the main reasons.

This album is more classically oriented and certainly more ELP-ish than the previous GG- esque Crocodile album. The Ebusus (an antique name for the Ibiza island) track is a very rocky ride and quite demanding on the listener at times but also holds many delicious moments certainly one of them being the funky bass-lead up-tempo with slight rap-like vocals around the 7min mark, however quickly dispelled by an ELP call and response between synths and other KBs and constant but sometimes needless changes. The second track , the 11min title track (also an antique name for their city Manresa) is sometimes interesting but I find it simply too much unstable for its own good and simply too derivative of classical music.

The last tracks differs strongly from the rest of Fusioon and rightly so, since it is the only track written by guitarist Brunet, but this does not mean that it is loaded with histrionics, far from it: it is completely analogue synthesized - among which Mellotrons and Moogs - is maybe the most interesting of the album and certainly the most adventuresome, sounding like a wild and unstable Krautrock, although like some colleague reviewers said elsewhere, it does stick out like a sore-thumb compared to the rest of the album, but their whole discography as well..

To me, this last album is certainly Fusioon's more extreme statement of the three albums, but maybe a little too extreme!!! At least to me.

As ambitious and proggishly definitive "Minorisa" is, this reviewer doesn't get a sense of excitement from this album. Although it's a pleasant enough rock application of classical influences, I feel the composition is lukewarm. It has all the correct surface elements, from the neo-classical melodies to the mellotron moments, to the expansive jamming fields, which may be enough for some, but as I don't necessarily and gratefully lap up every single symphonic prog album that comes my way, I find plenty of fault.

The first three minutes of "Ebesus" are great fun - the chanting is original and creepy, while the organic twiddling at least stalls the moment where the music settles into tradition; the rest is bland compared, sounding like a band attempting to cover for a missing member and not quite succeeding, as there is an empty to the remainder of the track.

The title song has a little more flourish and enthusiasm, capturing a mood that owes a lot to Banco del Mutuo Soccorso, and runs along similarly gothic lines. It feels rather average and artificially extended in places, but it can entertain if you're not looking for anything groundbreaking. Interestingly, the closing piece (cleaved in twine for the CD issue) is most interesting to this reviewer because, as Fusioon's music can be repetitive, a spacy and experimental environment feels more suitable than a symphonic rock foundation. "Llaves del Subsconsciente" is dramatic and drenched in layers of classic keyboard syrup and pinging, reciprocal guitar lines, and as such is blissfully psychedelic. Two stars mostly for this reason, and apologies to the band for my preference for their shortest experimental piece, forsaking the main thrust of the record.

This album holds a very special place in my heart as representing the first concert I remember attending in my life. My father was member of a small social club in our neighbourhood in Barcelona where social events and parties were organised. One evening Fusioon played there and my father took us all brothers and sisters, I must have been 9 years old, 10 at most (born in '66 and this album is from '75) . Honestly I don't remember much of the concert except that I was fascinated by the drummer, but I do remember that at the exit we were given a poster featuring the cover of this album, I remember it as being huge although probably it was not. The poster hang on the wall of our room for quite some years sharing space with the big bands of the period, ELP, Yes, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, Purple etc (I shared room with my older brother and it was completely covered with posters, the 4 walls and ceiling). Funnily we did not own the album at home and it was only some years later that I bought it precisely to recover some memories of that first concert experience.

Sentimental aspects aside, this is one of those lovely examples of genuine experimental jazz-rock-based prog which one thinks could only happen in the early '70s. Fusioon was influenced by bands like Egg, The Nice and King Crimson and featured some of the most highly regarded musicians of the '70s spanish jazz-rock-prog scene, most notably drummer Santi Arisa and keyboardist Manel Camp. The music is basically instrumental regardless of a few weird vocal fragments in the first track.

The first 2 tracks, accounting for nearly 80% of the album, are really outstanding. The opener Ebusus (the roman name for the island of Ibiza) is a delightful display of originality, mostly jazz-rock based prog featuring some catalan folklore traditional melodies, basically instrumental except for 2 sections, the first one repeating a sentence in catalan which translates as "from the year 1930 we will keep a good memory, let's hope that for many years we can happily recall it" (I'm not sure what does the sentence refer to but it's likely to be the end of the dictatorship of Primo de Rivera which would eventually lead to the autonomous government of Catalunya in 1931). Later on they recite all the different names that the island has had during history. Great stuff with special mention to the outstanding drumming and keys.

The 2nd track Minorisa Suite (Minorisa was the roman name of their hometown Manresa) is also amazing, built up from 3 traditional catalan folklore melodies, arranged in jazz-rock- prog fashion, and although I'm not very fond of folklorical music the result in this case is great, lovely stuff.

The low of the album comes with the last track which is excessively experimental, especially the 2nd movement, it's just the guys playing with their synthesizers oscillators, may have been fun listening to it completely stoned in its day, but not my piece of cake right now, similar as to what happens with Egg's album The Polite Force. Fortunately it's only 8 minutes out of the total 38 so I won't drop the total rating too much because of it.

A lovely album, highly recommended to those who want to dig deeper in the origins of genuine, unadulterated, original, creative, I would even say "innocent", early 70's jazz-rock- based prog.

This was a very pleasant surprise after what I felt was a disappointing debut from the band.This is their third and final album and it's just so interesting and left of center much of the time. Also there is an abuundance of melloton which only adds to my enjoyment. We get three long tracks and the opening song is a side long suite.

"Ebusus" is led by keyboards and drums early followed by bass and mellotron after a minute. Amazing stuff ! Mono-toned vocals 2 1/2 minutes in as the wind blows. It's heavier and darker before 4 minutes.This is so good. Prominant drumming after 5 minutes then some brief fast paced vocals. It's catchy with piano before 7 minutes with chunky bass as drums continue. Fast paced vocals are back before 8 1/2 minutes then a change before 9 minutes as it calms right down with mellotron. I'm reminded of AREA 10 minutes in then we get another calm before 12 1/2 minutes with mellotron. It kicks back in before 15 minutes and vocals follow. Mellotron 18 minutes in. Great song !

"Minorisa" opens with spacey synths and atmosphere. Mellotron joins in. Drums and piano take over before a minute then the synths return.The tempo changes often on this one. Church bells after 5 minutes then some heaviness with mellotron takes over. Synths and drums lead late. "Llaves Del Subconsciente" opens with mellotron then these strange and experimental sounds follow. Part II of this tune is very much an electronic soundscape that Klause Schulze would be proud of i'm sure.

No doubt a classic from Spain that the adventerous listener will eat up.

Fusioon's best work takes the listener on a prog world tour, beginning with a very Egg-y flavour of Canterbury and proceeding to go all over the map, with ELP-style keyboard bombast breaking out at points before we reach our final destination in the electronic-Krautrockish outro to Llaves del Subconsciente. Displaying fusion chops that the likes of Area would be proud to boast of and an amazing capacity to combine different directions in progressive music into a coherent and individual sound all of their own, Fusioon manage to create a distinctive album which stands head and shoulders above its two predecessors as the crown jewel of their discography.