BEGGAR JULIA'S TIME TRIP

The success of debut album had made Rick van der Linden became the band's official leader. On the band's second album "Beggar Julia's Time Trip" he was the main writer, composer and arranger of the band. While on first album was pure instrumental piece, starting from this second album (followed later with the third) the band had included singer Michel van Dijk. It's actually obvious that Ekseption is by definition is an instrumental band because the characteristic of their music sounds better with no vocal.

It was quite interesting to me that this album was basically a concept album about a beggar named Julia who traveled through the passage of time from hundred years ago until recent days. It's quite interesting also with the narration throughout the album by Linda van Dijk. "Overture" opens the album with flute-work followed nicely by van der Linden's organ sounds. Through "Adagio" and "Italian concerto" Rick van der Linded demonstrates excellent organ work. "Concerto" is also another excellent track with excellent guitar work.

Overall, this is not something masterpiece but it's very good especially with the fact that this was an attempt to a concept album which I thought that it was first started with Genesis "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway". Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

Born out of the ashes of a band named ''Incrowd'', EKSEPTION were fronted by gifted musician Rick Van Der Linden and won the first prize at the Loosdrecht Jazz Festival to lead them to an eponymous debut filled with interpretetions of classical pieces in 1969.''Beggar Julia's time trip'' followed in 1970 with original material and a concept around a beggar,who travels through time.An essential approach to classical and jazz music,the album is characterized by the trully amazing and sensintive playing of Van Der Linden on piano,xylophone and mellotron,close to the likes of classical composers.On the other hand the classical approach is accompanied by brass instruments like trumpet,trombone and saxes to fill the album with an intense jazzy feeling.One of the few EKSEPTION albums featuring a (quite good) vocalist,''Beggar Julia's time trip'' is a very good example of classical early-70's prog rock with strong jazz doses.

For this, their second album, the band had some changes in the line-up: both Rob Kruisman (saxophones, flute, guitar, vocals) and Huib van Kampen (guitar, Tenor saxophone) left the band, being replaced by Dick Remelink ( saxes, flute). Drummer Peter de Leeuwe also left the band (but returned for their next album), being replaced by Dennis Whitbread. Also the band had a lead singer called Michel van Dijk, plus some guest appearances from Tony Vos (saxes, tonytone, electronic effects, and also the main producer of some of their albums), Linda van Dyck ( voice on "Prologue" & "Epilogue"), and Eric van Lier (trombone, tuba), who also was going to participate in their '00.04' album from 1971.

This album is really a concept album about a beggar named Julia who does a time trip through several centuries (more or less as I understood the concept). The main composer in the original musical pieces in this album is keyboard player Rick van der Linden, with some collaborations with lyrics from singer Michel van Dijk, who really only sings in two songs ('Juila' and 'Pop Giant'), and from Linda van Dyck who does some narration. There are some sections in the album which really are done with electronic sound effects and their function is more to work as links to other musical pieces. These electronic sound effects make this album sound a bit influenced by psychedelia, and they really sound like 'experiments' maybe done with Moogs or with other electronic devices.

As in every album by the band, there are several arrangements done to Classical Music pieces (Albinoni`s 'Adagio', J.S. Bach`s 'Italian Concerto', and Tchaikovsky`s 'Concerto'). The appearance of an electric guitar solo in 'Concerto' and its previous appearance as the B-side of the 'Air' single in 1969 makes me think that 'Concerto' was really recorded for their first album, but was finally released in their second album. Of these Classical Music pieces I prefer more 'Adagio' and 'Concerto'. There are also some brief appearances from other uncredited Classical Music pieces in some parts of the album, like some bars from Rachmaninoff`s First Piano Concerto and a bit from J.S Bach`s 'Sicilano in G', a musical piece which the band was going to record in a full arrangement for their 'Ekseption 5' album from 1972.

This is maybe their first attempt for a full Prog album, having a conceptual story, and with each musical piece being linked one after the other without interruptions (other to the natural end of the Side One in the old LP version). The Jazz, Rock, Classical and Pop influences are very present, and maybe in this second album the band sounds more 'mature', more 'serious', and with maybe having less inclinations to appear in the radio, even if they still released some singles.

Ekseption produced some very interesting material in the early 70's. Their style is somewhat reminiscent of The Nice - full of rock adaptations of classical music of the romantic, classical, and baroque periods. Therefore, do not expect any very sophisticated melodies, rhythms or harmonies - this is pure European tidyness. This record in particular is a great showcase of what these Dutch prog-rockers were able to do. Ekseption consisted of drums, bass, organ, and a horn section - sax and trumpet. This line-up gave them great versatility, which you can hear on this record. "Beggar Julia's Time Trip" is a beautifully twisted mix of classical baroque music, dry, up-beat rock tempos, and excellent, authentic bebop passages, featuring great instrumental abilities from all of the band members. "Italian Concerto" also perfectly presents that and is in my opinion the highlight of the album. You can forgive not the best recording quality and that "dry" factor in the mix. Rick Van Linden is an excellent keyboard player, whose abilities should be put among the greatest - Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman, Tony Banks, Dave Stewart or Jon Lord. All of the band members present a great technical know-how and classical training. The record, however, as fun as it is to listen to, has not aged gracefully, sounding very dated, cheesy, and, at times, even commercial. 3 stars is a good rating. It is still recommended!

Beggar Julia's Time Trip is this Dutch group's sophomore release, following their still-early-Prog '69 self-titled. Not inaccurately considered a Classical Crossover band, Ekseption covers compositional material from the broad classical/art music canon, though significantly less here than with their debut. Instead, the vast majority of tracks are penned by keyboardist Rick van der Linden, who 4 years later would briefly depart to form and record with the Prog trio Trace, featuring early Focus drummer--and somehow bearing no relation to Rick--Pierre van der Linden (the same surname and you're not even cousins? on paper or anything? haha).

The album begins w/ a van der Linden original, "Ouverture", a Baroque-style instrumental with a clean sound to start and a very tasteful flute solo from Dick Remelink. Midway, the track softens and then slowly builds into classic Jazz Rock. The synths which close out the high-intensity church organ are really something for the time (no surprise coming from a master such as Rick). To follow is a monologued "Prologue". With a deep, though quiet drone and the constant clashing of cymbals, the track is almost like Tolkien. I found the writing to be impressive and gripping. Seamlessly, we are then musically introduced to our album's protagonist, "Julia". A bizarre, increasingly-frustrated counting of ump-teen hundreds is heard immediately following for a very short 30 seconds on "Flying Power". All tension there is abandoned with the warm buzz of electric organ at the start of "Adagio" (by Italian Baroque composer Tomaso Albinoni). This gets rapidly jazzier, as Rick offers a plunky solo on what I assume to be spinet (what sounds like harpsicord). This solo is its strongest element, but it disappears as quickly as it entered the mix.

In what I'd consider an awfully positive turn in the album, "Space 1" (credited to J.S. Bach) acts as a truly spacy, still futuristic (and I feel somewhat ahead of its time) interlude. What follows is another Bach credit, "Italian Concerto in F BWV 971 (1. Allegro)", one of the more confident Symphonic Prog songs thus far. This morphs into what I'd consider broadly Post-Bop in the middle before returning to overtly classical. Pretty strong track. In a totally other tone, "Concerto" (Tchaikovsky) is a triumph, filled with positivity so obvious , you may get a little sick from it haha. Thank God then for the little tension later provided. This composition, I would think, should be very familiar (starting around 1:00, at least) to anyone old enough to retain memory of (at least), I don't know, 15 years of their life. It's pretty iconic. And what they do with it is certainly pleasant, especially with the inclusion of some backburner, back-of-the-mix lead guitar (uncredited?). Despite what I said at the start, this is one of the strongest songs of the whole, with a range of tones, colors, emotions, and other synonyms.

To follow is the next interluding track, "Space 2", a mysterious tone, suddenly broken up by the thumping groove of "Pop Giant". The horn stabs are reminiscent to Chicago, especially (much welcomed). Likewise welcomed are the honestly great vocals from percussionist Michel Van Dijk. And then there's this sultry sax solo on something so markedly feeling, it may as well have been Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments". This is delicious, proggy Jazz Rock! Continuing in the same tone, following the fleeting "Space 3", "Feelings" is next. So natural, and yet revealed to be so much brighter. The bass from Cor Dekker is very Psych Pop (so it's incredible). It's so high in the mix and I'm really feeling that choice. This is one of the more clear examples of Classical Crossover on the album [Many tracks on Beggar Julia seldom meld Jazz and Classical so tightly]. Queue fading sax solo as we then bleed into "Epilogue", a dark and eerie tune with a final monologue. Julia must've had one helluva trip, huh? Who's ready for their next? We then finally have the "Finale: Music for Mind / Theme Julia". And Rick really takes us to church here. The organ reminded me of the stellar Prog Pop song "I'm O.K." by Styx, some 8 years later.

Overall, a very handsomely packaged, cohesive album of early Symphonic Prog (with happy sprinklings of Jazz Rock). Its highs are notable, yet, as with any album of this just-secondary caliber, only carry her so far. Certainly glad I listened.

True Rate: 3.5/5.0