SECRET OYSTER

It's not jazz, it's instrumental melodic prog with lead sax

^ Just wanted to get that out of the way first. "Jazz Rock" and "Fusion" as terms conjure images in my mind that are almost entirely inconsistent with the meat of this album, so let this heading serve as an ad-hoc quasi genre for the purposes of this review.

After listening to this for the 298th (give or take a few dozen) time the other day, I figured the time was right to write a formal review that tries to convey my feelings for this, one of my all- time favorite albums. Long before it became available on CD, I had a muddy sounding cassette copy of this album that I got from a friend of a friend, and I was absolutely addicted to this tape. To my ears, it was a tastefully played collection of concise, tightly melodic instrumental pieces that still allowed some breathing space for the excellent soloists. I'm always impressed with bands that really have a way with melody, because as an amateur musician myself, I have an awful hard time coming up with an original melody. Something that carries you on an emotional arc, has a beginning and an end, and doesn't quite sound like anything you've heard before. Secret Oyster had specialized in high-energy instrumental jazzy rock (oops, there's that word again) for several years before this, their 4th and final album, and the maturity of their craft by this point had reached a peak.

Beginning as it does with a thundering synthesized number, the brief "Lindance", you may at this point be having your doubts. As it happens, it's merely a "dramatic overture" to the pieces ahead. Next of which is the briskly paced (also brief) title track, which feels a little like a continuation of the first track, but introduces a catchy, almost playful new theme on the electric piano, as well as little 8-bar bursts of invention by electric guitarist Claus Bøling.

After this one-two punch of light entertainment, the album really kicks into gear with "My Second Hand Rose", the first spot that alto sax player, bandleader, and primary composer Karsten Vogel really gets to shine. Vogel's approach to his instrument is like that of a singer to his voice. Throughout the song and most of the album, he is basically singing lead with his sax, and it so happens that he is an incredible vocalist - bending notes ever so subtly, vibrato in just the right amount, pouring years of technical mastery into a simple melody line, giving it extra layers of meaning and nuance. And then later in the track, Bøling gets another solo, 24 bars of utter perfection. And despite all this musicality going on, the piece still sounds as fun and spontaneous as a Saturday Night Live band after-hours jam. Brilliant.

And the album only gets better from there. "High Luminant Silver Patterns" (penned by keyboardist Kenneth Knudsen) lays down a furious space groove as Bøling once again sets the world on fire. "Delveaux" is an extended meditation piece, sans percussion, highlighting some nice Moog work in the first half, and Vogel's plaintive sax melody in the second half. "Stalled Angel" (also by Knudsen) introduces some funk into the mix. "Rubber Star" (Knudsen again) is... deserving of its own paragraph, but this is already getting long. Another meditative piece, with gentle guitar arpeggios holding down the rhythm, as bass, electric piano, and sax take turns gently pushing the melody through its sad yet hopeful emotional arc, providing counterpoint for each other along the way. One of my favorite songs.

Closing things out are yet two more highlights: Vogel's exciting "Traffic and Elephants", a quick groove framing a slowly ascending bass line, providing Vogel with lots of space to tell us a story on the sax. The music gets louder and more frantic as it goes, culminating in an ecstatic finale. The final track, Bøling's "Leda and the Dog", almost feels anticlimactic in this context, but closer listening reveals this to be one of the more emotionally involving pieces on the album. Understated but incredibly vital, with a strange yet effective song structure.

Nine songs, and barely a moment wasted. These songs all have a clear forward direction (not always a given with fusion), fantastic nontrivial melodies, great solos, all played by players who have mastered their instruments so well they have no need to show off. About as good as it gets.

"Furtive Pearl" is the debut full-length studio album by Danish jazz-rock act Secret Oyster. The album was released through CBS Records in November 1973. Secret Oyster was formed by former members of the acts Burnin'Red Ivanhoe, Coronarias Dans and Hurdy Gurdy, so we're taking seasoned and quite prolific Danish musicians.

The band play a jamming type of instrumental jazz-rock on this album albeit with strong and memorable themes which provide some hooks to hold on to. The themes are querky and with the driving rocking type drumming on the album I'm reminded a lot of late sixties Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention. The high level of musicianship on display on "Furtive Pearl" is also equal to the high level musicianship of that band. The prominent instruments on the album are guitar, organ/electric piano and alto/soprano saxes. The latter mentioned are played by Karsten Vogel who is known for his work with Burnin'Red Ivanhoe. As mentioned the drums keep a steady driving beat throughout most of the album but there are some variation to be found in "Vive La Quelle?", which features a drum solo. The bass playing is also quite prominent and nicely organic.

There's no questioning the fact that "Furtive Pearl" is a high quality jazz-rock album, but personally I could have done without the most noodling jamming solo parts as I definitely enjoy the music most when those delightfully querky themes are played, but that's most likely an aquired taste and a 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is still warranted.

— First review of this album —

In 2007 Secret Oyster was invited to play at Nearfest fusion Friday on June 22nd.They played at the Zoellner Arts Centre at Lehigh Univercity at Bethlehem,Pensylvania.They had been on hiatus for 30 years after their last album Straight to the krankenhaus from 1977.

There are 3 original members along here from then.Karsten Vogel-Sax and keys.Claus Bohling-guitar and Ole Streenberg on drums plus 2 newcomers on keys and bass.

We get mainly music from Sea Son and Straight to the krankenhaus plus opener Sireen from Astarte.It is a very nice concert with a good sound and an appreciative audience.Songs are sax and guitar dominated and Claus really shines on the guitar.The cd is only 50 minutes long and we get some great tunes mainly the mellower songs from their repertoire.I could have wished for some more upbeat tunes to break the mellowness but it is a relative short show ,so maybe that's the reason.

So all in all a nice little souvenir from Secret Oyster and Nearfest .I wish I had been there,but unfortunately I wasn't.

Straight To The Krankenhaus is the 4th full-length studio album by Danish jazz/ fusion act Secret Oyster. The album was composed and recorded simultaniously with Vidunderlige Kælling (1975), but was not released until 1977. The band had enjoyed great succes with their first couple of albums and they had even been in contact with Colombia Records who had told the band that they might try and market the band in the US. Unfortunately Colombia Records changed their mind as they felt Secret Oyster sounded too much like Weather Report. The band ended up disillusioned and split-up in December 1977 after a short but but bright career. The original version of the album contained 9 tracks while the 2007 Laser´s Edge CD re-issue features 2 bonus tracks.

The music on the album is high energy jazz rock/ fusion. Weather Report is an obvious influence so in that respect Colombia Records were right, but Secret Oyster are not a clone band. Their brand of jazz rock/ fusion is very catchy and while there are plenty of soloing by especially sax and guitar on this album, the songs never drag or drown in excessive soloing. The band are exceptionally well playing but that´s not their only asset as the songs on the album are also high quality compositions. To top that off you have an excellent and warm production. The kind of warm production you only hear on seventies albums.

Straight To The Krankenhaus is slightly more interesting and a bit more in the band´s usual style than its predecessor, and while I certainly enjoyed Vidunderlige Kælling very much, Straight To The Krankenhaus is just a notch better. 4 stars are well deserved.

Vidunderlige Kælling is the 3rd full-length studio album by Danish jazz/ fusion act Secret Oyster. "Vidunderlige Kælling" translates into "Wonderful Bitch". The album was made specifically and on request for a ballet of the same name starring one of the greatest Danish female ballet dancers at the time Vivi Flindt ( it´s Vivi posing naked on the cover of the album). The ballet was created by her husband Flemming Flindt who was at the time artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet. It was Flemming Flindt who contacted Secret Oyster to see if the band were interested in composing music for the ballet, which they certainly were. Sax player Karsten Vogel explains in the CD booklet, that not only was it a great artistic challenge but also an offer they couldn´t refuse, simply because they were offered a good paycheck, which was something they weren´t used to. The ballet went on to become a big success ( probably in part because Vivi Flindt and several of the other dancers were naked in their scenes. Denmark was already back then a very liberal country when it came to nudity, but still!), but Karsten Vogel says that the experience didn´t live up to the band´s expectations. The original album contained 9 tracks while the 2005 Laser´s Edge re-issue features 3 bonus tracks. All tracks were written for and used in the ballet except the bonus track Circus Sax. The scene in the ballet where that song was supposed to be used was cut. The music was recorded so the band were not present during the ballet performances.

The music on Vidunderlige Kælling was composed simultaniously with the tracks that would make up the 4th full-length studio album by Secret Oyster called Straight To The Krankenhaus (1977), but it´s obvious when listening to Vidunderlige Kælling, that the music they wrote for the ballet was meant for a more structured setting than the band´s usually more jamming approach. There are also more classical influences in the music than usual. The quiet and melancholic Solitude and the tango Tango-bourgeoise are also quite different from the band´s usual style. The majority of the music still sound unmistakably like Secret Oyster though just a bit less jamming. This means jazz/ fusion of the highest caliber. Weather Report is the most obvious reference, but Secret Oyster have a guitarist in the lineup which gives them a different sound from that band. But there are other similarities. The music is fully instrumental and while there are guitar soloing in the bands music and a strong rythm section it´s sax player Karsten Vogel and keyboard player Kenneth Knudsen that are mostly in focus. The latter one really shines on this album.

The production is excellent and warm. Perfect for the music.

Vidunderlige Kælling is a great album by Secret Oyster and it fully showcases the incredible talent and compositional range within the band. A 3.5 - 4 star rating is deserved.

4.5 stars. SECRET OYSTER are a Jazz / Fusion band that in my opinion take a back seat to no one. Their first two albums and this one are brilliant. I was talking to Todd a couple of weeks ago and he said he was listening to this album and how great it was. So I made a mental note to review it and for once that note didn't get lost. The title of this album was an inside joke for the band. They used to tour Germany all cramped up in this van. Anyway, when they would be approaching a city there would always be a sign pointing out "Krankenhaus" (Hospital), the band would then shout out in unison "Straight to the krankenhaus !" then all start laughing. The album cover shows the band's sense of humour as well. The music though is serious [&*!#].

"Lindance" opens with drums and some powerful outbursts as it settles in with organ. "Straight To The Krankenhaus" has such an amazing, amazing intro ! It's so moving with the pulsating keys and synths. It settles in with sax and bass then the guitar lights it up. "My Second Hand Rose" opens with some lazy sax melodies then the bass and drums join in. Beautiful guitar before 2 1/2 minutes takes the lead from the sax. The sax returns a minute later. A gorgeous and moving track. "High Luminant Silver Patters" opens with keys and drums as synths roll in then sax. Electric piano before 1 1/2 minutes then guitar a minute later. Incredible ! "Delveaux" features synths and bass with lots of atmosphere. Sax after 2 minutes. It settles after 4 1/2 minutes as the guitar plays tastefully.The sax is back then the keyboards lead.

"Stalled Angel" has this funky intro where the drumming and bass sound great. It changes as it settles, then the funk returns as contrasts continue. The guitar sounds so good later on. "Rubber Star" is eventually led by sax then we get this CAMEL ("Moonmadness") flavour that comes and goes. Great sound. These closing two tracks are mind blowing. "Traffic & Elephants" opens with the sounds of bass, drums, keys, sax etc. that are building. Just a great sound. This is intense and oh so good. "Leda & The Dog" sounds like MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA with all that atmosphere and your just waiting for them to break out. Guitar after 1 1/2 minutes as the atmosphere continues. A change after 2 1/2 minutes as the atmosphere leaves and the drums and guitar lead. Fantastic ! And so moving.

A must for Jazz / Fusion fans.

Oh, second track, "St..wait a minute...jernerme, no...jernerne Pa Gaden" sounds quite like ambient, well, sound. Right after listening this I found out that it was meant to be a ballet. That explains a lot, but it would be very extraordinary performance at times, as shown in "Sirenerne-Astarte" (I remember Adeptus Astartes from Warhammer 40k, maybe it's connected). And by EO I mean not usual, not great. Problem of this album is its colour. It's gray one, you almost don't know about it. Now transfer this to musical world and you get basic info about this record. Sometimes (again "SA" track for example) sounds more like indo/raga, mostly for its last minutes. "Solitude" ? If you ask me, it's silent piano solo.

I really want to tell more about music here, but there's nothing to tell about. "Tango Bourgoisie" sounds like generic tango song, even with this piano thing at the end of parts).

2(+), quiet music with little bit of rock at the end

A new rhythm section on this album as they add former BURNIN' RED IVANHOE bass player Jess Staehr, and former CORONARIAS DANS drummer Ole Streenberg. As for the music, I would say this is a more mature release when compared to the debut, the guitar is toned back so there's more balance, and there's more variety as well. In the liner notes they mention that the arrangements are more complicated making this more of a challenge for the band to play. These guys are up for the challenge though 'cause they can flat out play.

"Oysterjungle" is a jazzy tune with strings and sax that come and go.Those are my least favourite parts of the song as I prefer the bass/drum intro and the more laid back sections. "Mind Movie" is my favourite tune on here. Again the relaxed passages are so good during the first half of the song. They are led by piano at first and then guitar. The bass lines are excellent as well. The guitar takes over the second half of the song with some fantastic psychedelic jamming. This all starts at 4 1/2 minutes and goes to the end. At times the guitar is so emotional, just an unbelieveable section of music.

"Pajamamafia" opens with a beautiful atmospheric section that is led at first by piano and then acoustic guitar. It turns uptempo before 2 minutes as drums, guitar, sax and trumpet all shine the rest of the way. "Black Mist" features some nice guitar early as a good beat comes in. Keys join in and then sax as it starts to rip it up for the next 2 minutes. "Painforest" opens with strings. A change before 2 1/2 minutes as guitar comes in tastefully and leads the rest of the way. Nice. "Paella" is like an intense swirling mass of fusion as guitar and trumpet light it up while bass and drums create the heavy beat. Great song to end the album.

I do prefer their debut by quite a bit. It rocks out more as the guitar really drives that album. This one has taken longer to grow on me, but it has grown to 4 stars. I expect it to be a solid 4 stars eventually.

4.5 stars.This has to be the greatest band ever to come out of Denmark. A supergroup of sorts with the drummer, sax, and bass player from BURNIN' RED IVANHOE joined by the Avant-garde keyboard player from CORONARIAS DANS, and the amazing guitar player from HURDY GURDY (Claus Bohling). By the way Donovan's song "Hurdy Gurdy Man" is about THIS guitar player. Cool. This album is one of those great discoveries I come across once and a while that makes the search so worth while. The album cover is from a post card of the mainstreet of the little town where they recorded this their debut record. This really is a blend of Jazz / Rock / Fusion with Claus just ripping it up throughout on his guitar.

"Dampexpression" opens with piano that builds as sax and a full sound arrives quickly.The sax and drumming stand out along with the keys. The guitar before 2 minutes lights it up as the bass throbs, more great guitar again after 3 minutes. "Fire & Water" has a nice beat as organ and fat bass lead the way. Guitar comes in very psychedelic-like as the tempo picks up. Amazing sound 3 minutes in.The guitar rips it up before 5 minutes. "Vive La Quelle ?" has a memorable, uptempo melody until a calm a minute in where guitar and drums start to make some noise without a real melody. Just raw guitar sounds and random drum patterns. We start to get a melody after 4 minutes. Keys come in and they become dissonant at times. Some good guitar 7 minutes in. The song ends as it began.

"Blazing Lace" has a haunting intro before the guitar comes in and takes over. Sax, drums and bass are all here. Love the guitar after 3 minutes. "Public Oyster" is the longest track at almost 11 minutes. This is actually very Krautrock-like early, the way the keys and guitar lead the way. The sound starts to build 3 1/2 minutes in. Guitar comes in at 5 minutes and plays over top. Nice. Sax comes in sounding really good as does the relentless drumming.The guitar starts to shine after 9 minutes. "Mis(s) Fortune" is lighter, almost Canterbury-like with lots of keys and bass. "Ova-X" opens with sax with not much of a melody as sounds come and go. It's kind of experimental and i like it.

This all-instrumental debut from SECRET OYSTER is so impressive. Just a pleasure to listen to.

"Sea Son" from 1974 is considered one of the finest titles from Danish fusion monsters Secret Oyster and is considered underrated by many of their fans. While not the genre of prog I am most familiar with, I can say that these guys are very talented players and their songwriting approach is adventurous. Guitarist Claus Bohling really tears it up over the course of many extended solos. Those who enjoy heated instrumental jamming with occasional chill-out sections will eat this album up. Spice is added to some tracks courtesy of violins, cello, trumpet, sax, and congos. The most amazing fact about this album that I culled from the liner notes is that it was recorded in a mere 4 days. 4 freakin days! Some bands pencil in that much time for bathroom breaks! I don't really have a favorite track. All of this is pretty good for instrumental rock lovers. I have nothing against Secret Oyster but in the jazz-fusion genre I prefer bands like Finnforest, Area, Esagono, and the first Lotus album. I guess I just find their material more interesting and/or emotional. But I still have to recommend this title to any jazz/fusion fan as I don't believe it will disappoint anyone. The sound is good and even the three bonus tracks are worthwhile, unlike most bonus tracks which are usually not worth your time. Good stuff.