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FRAGMENTS OF LIGHT

Sensations' Fix

Psychedelic/Space Rock


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Sensations' Fix Fragments of Light album cover
3.56 | 63 ratings | 12 reviews | 19% 5 stars

Excellent addition to any
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Studio Album, released in 1974

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Fragments of Light (3:20)
2. Nuclear War in Your Brain (3:35)
3. Music in Painting in the Air (4:15)
4. Windopax and the Stone Sender (2:25)
5. Spacer Energy Age (3:45)
6. Metafel + Mefalac (1:30)
7. Space Closure (6:25)
8. Music Without Gravity (2:10)
9. Do You Love Me? (2:50)
10. Life Beyond the Darkness (3:30)
11. Telepathic Children (3:35)

Total Time 37:20

Line-up / Musicians

- Franco Falsini / guitars, synthesizers, vocals, composer & producer
- Richard Ursillo / bass, electronic pedals
- Keith Edwards / drums & percussion

Releases information

Artwork: Mario Convertino

LP Polydor ‎- 2448 023 L (1974, Italy)
LP Polydor ‎- B0018136-01 (2013, US)

CD Polydor ‎- 517 854-2 (1992, Italy)
CD Polydor ‎- 523 696-2 (1994, Italy) Remastered by Dario Bontempi

Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition
and to Quinino for the last updates
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SENSATIONS' FIX Fragments of Light ratings distribution


3.56
(63 ratings)
Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(19%)
19%
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(38%)
38%
Good, but non-essential (37%)
37%
Collectors/fans only (6%)
6%
Poor. Only for completionists (0%)
0%

SENSATIONS' FIX Fragments of Light reviews


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Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by loserboy
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars "Fragments Of Light" is a real hummer as rests somewhere in the psych - prog zone delivering a wonderful symphonic 40 minute journey. All songs carry a heavy 70's analog keyboard via the talents of underground Italian prog legend Franco Falsini. This jem has been kindly restored and digitally mastered by Mellow Records from the original Polydor tapes. Overall this album is quite mellow in delivery, but does contain some choice e-guitar solos and wonderful space keyboard phrasing. Songs carry a very warm feel to them thanks to the analog synths and are very well constructed with some nice variations and complex yet smooth interludes.
Review by lor68
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars Such a sensational versatility!! Actually this album is not completely essential and sometimes discontinuous too, but regarding of its issue on 1974 (in the same period "Red" by KING CRIMSON was issued !!), it was a surprising work in progress. Originally a trio, this ensemble, which later become a quartet, had been led by guitarist/synthesist Franco Falsini; besides - after this experience - he was regarded as one of the most original Italian guitarists, by using such highly filtered guitars, both electric and acoustic, looking into the future. Recommended!!
Review by Proghead
PROG REVIEWER
5 stars SENSATIONS' FIX was a bit different from other Italian prog bands. For one thing, they explored a spacy style of electronic with their prog style. There wasn't much resemblance to their more classically-influenced counterparts (Le ORME, BANCO, PFM). So you won't find much comparisons here to IL BALLETTO DI BRONZO, BIGLIETTO PER L'INFERNO, LOCANDA DELLE FATE, LATTE E MIELE, etc. here. The band also had American musicians as well (like drummer Keith Edwards, and later on second keyboardist Steve Head).

"Fragments of Light" was their debut and was more or less simply a project of guitarist/keyboardist Franco Falsini. Keith Edwards and ex-CAMPO DI MARTE bassist Richard Ursillo only contributed to a couple of pieces. This is truly one of the great space rock albums. With song titles like "Nuclear War In Your Brain", "Space Closure", "Telepathic Children" and "Space Energy Age", you know right away you'll be treated with some truly mindblowing electronic/prog with some very lush synth sounds (Moog, Eminent). Guitar played a larger role in following albums, making "Fragments of Light" their most synth-dominated album. Of course the guitar is used here as well, like on the title track, "Windopax and the Stone Sender" and the almost PFM-like "Music is Painting in the Air" (which is the closest to the more standard Italian prog fare you expect from the time on this album). Vocals are only used on two cuts, "Space Energy Age" and "Do You Love Me?". "Do You Love Me?" is hardly a remake of the 1962 hit song from the Contours, but a Franco Falsini original. This song is the album's only real weak-point: the vocals aren't that great, as they seem strained and Falsini's singing is a bit off-key. He seems to shriek more than sing here. The other vocal cut, "Space Energy Age" feature much better vocals (more mellow, and more in key), which is even better with the liberal use of analog synths. This song also uses an early drum machine (not unlike what you hear on Arthur BROWN's "Kingdom Come's Journey").

Without a doubt, this, and their much more challenging "Portable Madness" are without a doubt their two best albums. "Fragments of Light" is highly recommended to all those whole enjoy both electronic and prog.

Review by soundsweird
PROG REVIEWER
2 stars I keep this CD for the track "Music Is Painting In The Air". Out of all the Sensations' Fix albums I've heard (3 or 4 of their 70's LP's), this is the only track that has any originality. Franco Falsini did put out a pretty good solo record (a soundtrack) called "Naso Freddo (Cold Nose)", although it owed much of its sound to Mike Oldfield, Franco Battiato and Tangerine Dream. Obviously recorded on a shoestring budget, these records seemed simplistic and rough. Of course, Battiato's albums often had that same aura. Other reviewers obviously like that "quality", but I don't.
Review by tszirmay
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
4 stars In each veteran progfan's collection , there is always a few of those strange records (vinyl back then) that hold a special place in their hearts and minds because of a myriad of plausible or ethereal reasons. It's such a personal (as opposed to popular) form of music that it doesn't really matter why it strikes a chord with a few but not with most. Frankly, who cares? This debut album is shrouded in nostalgic memory, remembering where and when I purchased it on a whim, initially intrigued by the following comment on the back jacket "Dear Robert, You'll be glad to know that the heavenly music organization is here too". I loved it then and have so since even though it's not a unique masterpiece (that would be their next one "Portable Madness") or monument by any stretch but I guess it has those qualities that transcend logic and even taste. The third track in particular has kept me mesmerized for decades, "Music in painting in the air" (Whatever!) just slithers along majestically, nothing too complex but obviously highly evocative on some subliminal level. Time to call my shrink, I guess but he likes Serbian folk music, so maybe not! On the 6 minute "Space Closure", you get to see what this is all about: simple space multiple-toned synth music with good bass and grooving drums. Franco Falsini has a unique guitar style that does owe some reverence to Fripp (Oh, that Robert!) but evokes more Steve Hillage (check out "Telepathic Children") than the Tongued Lark, probably due to Falsini's Tim Blake-like synth influence. On "Life Beyond the Darkness", Falsini lets his synthesizers roam free with a crystalline sound that can only charm. Contemplative, electronic, sequential, hallucinogenic and utterly outer worldly, this is fabulous Italian electro-prog that will please many who are open-minded enough to realize that this is from 1974 and is an amateur production (thank goodness). Occasionally, it veers off into odd punky psychedelia (as on "Do You Love Me?) that remains cute but puzzling , a sign of the times I guess. Fans of Khan, Hillage, Gong and space rock in general will find little to dislike. 4 fixed sensations
Review by apps79
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Honorary Collaborator
3 stars This beautiful region of Toscana in Italy not only produces some of the best wine to meet in this mighty planet or is filled with magnificent grassy landscapes,but can offer a rock fan a variety of musical adventures as interpretated in the case of SENSATIONS' FIX.They were formed and led by the charismatic personality of keyboardist/guitarist/composer Franco Falsini,who had earlier played with the rock band Noi Tre and the lesser known act Le Madri Superiori.Partners on this journey were Italo-American bassist Richard Ursillo and American drummer Keith Edwrards.First album ''Fragments of light'' (surprisingly an Italian album comes out with an English title) was released in 1974 and succedded a double CD re-issue in 1992 and 1998 on the same company.

STYLE: Unlike most of the Italian bands of the time,SENSATIONS' FIX played neither Symphonic Rock nor Jazz-tinged Rock.Reportedly the trio was isolated in a farm in Florence and produced trully Psychedelic/Space/Electronic music with a cosmic aura and a Kraut feeling.Most of the tracks are totally instrumental based the moog synth attacks and spacey guitars of Falsini in a rare psychedelic trip through the universe.In fact analog keys are everywhere,making the album's sound close to Berlin-school Electronic music.Vocals?No thank you,except some hypnotic chant-like parts and Falsini distorted vocal lines.

INFLUENCES/SOUNDS LIKE: What about a bizzare collaboration between ASH RA TEMPEL and TANGERINE DREAM with MIKE OLDFIELD??!!!!

PLUS: This is an album clearly based on its atmosphere and SENSATIONS' FIX indeed manage to transform the listener into cosmic adventures filled with psychedelic colour themes.Falsini's work on keys is absolutely proffesional with changing tempos,from hypnotic and dreamy soft passages to grandiose dominant parts.Guitar work is also very good with obvious OLDFIELD-ian influences and Falsini playing in the same high level.

MINUS: I assume the album can be a total failure for those not into deep electronics or trippy keyboard sounds and actually it's not an everyday's listening,as it demands a specific mood for its full appreciation.Keith Edwards and Richard Ursillo are hardly noticeable throughout the album,as Falsini's work on keys/guitars overcomes the rhythm section and the sound can get a bit monotonous after repeated listenings.

WILL APPEAL TO: Daring music fans,lovers of Electronic Prog and freaks of spacey soundscapes.

CONCLUSION/RATING: Among the ground-breaking releases of the Italian school of prog,''Fragments of light'' is a good album of its style with nice work both on keyboards and guitars,but it is headed for a limited percentage even among the Progressive Rock fans.Fairly enjoyable,I will rate this one with 3 stars.

Review by Mellotron Storm
PROG REVIEWER
4 stars 4.5 stars. I finally got my hands on this out of print album through the "Progressive Italia Gli Anni '70 Vol. 4" box set. It was worth it just for this album but of the six cds in the the set I didn't have four of them. Love the cover art too. It's kind of cool that this trio includes former CAMPO DI MARTE bass player Richard Ursillo. Man this is one spacey album.TANGERINE DREAM came to mind often but instead of sequencers we get bass, guitar and drums which I prefer anyway. I can't say enough about the spacey sound of this record though.There really is only one mistake in my opinion and that's the "Do You Love Me ?" track. Where did this one come from ? Was it the label forcing them to do a single ? Anyway less than 3 minutes of it isn't going to ruin my enjoyment of this album but talk about being out of place.

"Fragments Of Light" is my favourite.The strummed guitar and synth washes sound incredible. "Nucleur War In Your Brain" is a very spacey soundscape from start to finish. "Music In Painting In The Air" has strummed guitar in such a warm atmosphere. Just a great sound to this one that I don't want to end. "Windopax And The Stone Sender" reminds me a lot of PINK FLOYD.The only track that does actually. I think it's the great sounding guitar mostly.

"Spacer Energy Age" has vocals for the first time and I don't mind them here as we get lots of synths and electronics with guitar. Drums join in too. "Metafel + Mefalac" is very spacey as the atmosphere hums loudly. "Space Closure" has some excellent sounding drums, bass and synths to start.The tempo picks up around 2 minutes. Drums to the fore later.Spacey winds end it. "Music Without Gravity" is a short and very spacey track.

"Do You Love Me ?" as I mentioned earlier sounds like a shot at a single. It's so out of place here. "Life Beyond The Darkness" has guitar, percussion and synths. "Telepathic Children" is again spacey with guitar playing over the top this time.

I would have given this 5 stars if not for that one track but I do think it's a negative.

Review by octopus-4
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR RIO/Avant/Zeuhl,Neo & Post/Math Teams
4 stars Many years ago I bought a Pink Floyd's bootleg on vinyl. It had songs like Point me at the sky and Crumbling Land. Songs with a touch of country and flower power psychedelia with a very particular sound, specially in the guitar.

Well, this is how this album sounds. From a composition perspective the tracks are closer to the Tangerine Dream of Electronic Meditation in the most electronic parts, but also Amon Duul II or Cluster...Krautrock in a word, but reminding of open spaces, like the famous long straight roads in the Arizona Desert.

The Title track is opened by some acoustic guitar. The sound of the keyboards reminds me to soemthing already listened, but I can't currently identify what. Maybe the old Peter Bardens...yes, it's not the music itself. The sensations that this music gives me are similar to those which years later I'll receive from Seen One Earth, but while the Bardens' album was deeply in the 80s, this one belongs totally to the 70s.

Nuclear War In Your Brain" is mainly a keyboard solo that reminds to Vangelis and Tangerine Dream. More to Vangelis for the mute singing. Effectively this song has similarities with those contained in "Short Stories".

"Music Is Painting in The Air" starts with two chords, the same as Crumbling Land. It's very close to the contry-psych Floyds of Zabriskie Point.

Windowpax And The Stone Sender" is tendentially on the TD side. An electronic track that contains, if you listen very carefully to the first seconds, a medieval-folk element. The loops on the guitar create a two-minutes Froese-like piece.

"Space Energy Age" is pure psychedelia in Amon Duul II style. Just percussions, vocals with a lot of reverb and a bluesy guitar solo.

"Metafel + Metalac" (what the hell it means?) is just one minute of keyboards on a major chord. Very spacey. That kind of track that, depending on the player's state of mind can last 1 minutes or 20 indifferently.

"Space Closure" has a beat flavor. I think to some proto-proggers of the 60s like Moody Blues, or even Animals. In 1974 this was already a track from the past. Six very good minutes of early psychedelia.

Another bit of space rock with "Music With No Gravity". The title gives the idea of this rhythmless keyboards chord on which voices and electronic noises joke like the "witch of the flying teapot".

"Do You Love Me" is back to the acoustic Krautrock. A short song with an easy theme, pop and radio friendly if it wasn't for the kraut arrangement that makes it very interesting. It remoinds me to the prog period of Battiato, too.

"Life Beyond Darkness" is opened by an acoustic guitar on which you can expect to hear Annie Haslam singing with her high-pitched voice. It's a high-pitched keyboard instead. A nice instrumental.

The album is closed by "Telepathic Children". It's a track midway from the very early Tangerine Dream and the Pink Floyd of the first Gilmour (Before Meddle, I mean).

Let's get metaphysical.

4 Stars

Review by admireArt
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars Austere, that is why it never "conquered" the BIG markets.

Austere, considering the "heights" of exoticness fellow musical contemporaries, were achieving or had achieved at the time. I could mention mine and you should have your personal favorites. I mean we are talking about the 70's, like it or not, Prog's "golden" break through era. Prior to this 1974 Sensations' Fix first work, as mentioned, are myriads of great prog albums, 1972 alone has at least 20.

Anyway, by austere I by no means, will describe "raw". By austere, in the case of this italian 70's prog band, I mean under-toned, or really unpretentious as far as technical pirouettes or soloing fireworks go. Their language has to do more with attractive songwriting that flows between straight to the bone simplicity and low- key beauty ( "Life Beyond the Darkness" track 10) , or masterfully performed electronic Prog/Folk ("Fragments of Light" track 1, "Music in Painting in the Air" track 3, "Do You Love Me" track 9 ), or perfectly woven synth/voice/electric guitar "electronics" ("Nuclear War in Your Brain" track 2, "Windopax and the Stone Sender" track 4, "Music without Gravity" track 8, "Telepathic Children" track 11 ), or experimental but pre-written songs like the strange, yet straight forward low-tone psychedelic "Space Energy Age" track 5, or "cosmic" electronics ("Metafel+Mafalac" track 6) or what seems to be a cover of a cover of an unwritten Jethro Tull song, quiet fun, even childish ("Space Closure", track 7). So, by austere I do not refer to one focus austere. Neither poor or unmasterful compositions and performances, I refer to unpretentiousness or maybe even better, the lack of commercial "intentions" or "ambitions" and its "comfortable" burdens, austere.

I suppose. Sensations' Fix "Fragments of Light" will be close or tagged to "psychedelic" Prog Rock. It complies with all the requisites, less the "stadium" like pretentions. More intimate,straight forward and "simple" in comparisson to those.

For me, ***3.5 "enough to catch my attention" PA stars. The rest is up to you!

Review by Neu!mann
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars The first Sensations' Fix LP was more or less a happy accident, and never intended as a finished album. You might get the impression it was recorded off the cuff in guitarist Franco Falsini's basement, and guess what: you'd be right. After sweet-talking a traveling salesman out of his demonstration MiniMoog, Falsini began goofing around with the new equipment in the Virginia home of his American wife, trying "to go beyond the sound of the guitar", quoting a 2012 interview.

The band itself didn't even exist at the time. It was only much later that Falsini would share the tapes with friends in England, and then receive an unsolicited record deal from Polydor (Italy): in retrospect a mixed blessing for such an underachieving visionary. A new band was quickly assembled, and those same basement demos became their debut album...an odd start to what would be an unusual career.

The album's name was chosen well, with eleven (mostly) instrumental song fragments filling only 37-minutes. But the music remains untethered to any concept of time or space, and is best summarized by the song titles themselves: "Music Without Gravity"; "Music Is Painting In the Air"; so forth. The latter in particular can be heard as the signature track not only of the embryonic group, but arguably also for Progressive Rock in general, expressed in a simple yet soaring four-minute epiphany.

For spiritual guidance Falsini made a role model of ROBERT FRIPP, in a fan letter printed directly on the album's back cover: "Dear Robert, you'll be glad to know that the heavenly music organization is here too." It might have been a subtle marketing ploy as well: anyone hip enough in 1974 to catch the reference to Fripp and Eno's commercially obscure "No Pussyfooting" album would likely be on the same wavelength as Falsini and company.

It's too bad Polydor Records didn't subscribe to the same heavenly music ethic. But in retrospect they did us all a favor by rashly signing such an unlikely ensemble, much like they did with the Krautrock troublemakers of FAUST three years earlier, and probably with similar regrets. In this one happy instance, being condemned by a fuzzy memory to repeat the mistakes of the past was a blessing in disguise.

Review by kenethlevine
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR Prog-Folk Team
3 stars By 1974 prog rock was yielding to decadence as a dominant genre, and, while many superb releases would follow to this day, it was becoming increasingly challenging to furnish a breakthrough or even establish a niche. It is from the latter more modest school that Franco Falsini's SENSATIONS' FIX emanates. First of all, "Fragments of Light" bears more resemblance to the wave of German electronica fronted by POPOL VUH and TANGERINE DREAM, with nods to Krautrock Alter Cockers AMON DUUL 2 and MYTHOS, than to the accomplishments of the big boys from Italy before, during or after this point in time.

Most of the lead instrumentation is operated by Falsini, who seems to play by feel and perception more than by stanza and sheet. Alternating from amorphous moogy atmospheres to surprisingly hummable numbers, "Fragments of Light" is at its best when it evinces a pseudo surf electronica in the form of the title cut, the brilliant folk-tinged "Music is Painting in the Air", and the whirring alt country of "Life Beyond Darkness". Another favorite is "Space Energy Age", particularly the first part, as the effect of the second is somewhat dampened by rare vocals.

"Fragments of Light" seems to have arisen from simultaneous circumstances that can't be simulated or imitated. Its uncommon etiology and Falsini's innate grooviness combine to make it more than a mere historical curiosity, albeit modestly so.

Latest members reviews

5 stars Very trippy, spacey and trance-y and pretty electronic. I'd call the music at different times (or often simultaneously) Psychedelic Space Rock, Progressive Electronic, Krautrock and Psych Ambient. On this album (1974) I hear similarities to Pink Floyd, Ashra, Tangerine Dream, Eloy, Ash Ra Tempel, A. ... (read more)

Report this review (#214786) | Posted by listen | Monday, May 11, 2009 | Review Permanlink

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