RECREATION

"Music Against Music" has this "Strangers In The Night" piano meldoy to start. It's replaced by some ripping guitar before a minute then back to that opening piano melody to end it. "Music For Your Dog" has crisp drumming with keys early. It picks up with the bass helping out. Drums and spacey sounds lead late. I like this. "The Night Was Clear,The Moon was yellow" is a very short acoustic guitar piece. "Where Is The Bar,Clay ?" is organ and drums to start before the piano helps out then leads. "Caligula Suite In Horror Minor" has the organ and drums standing out and it ends in a psychedelic manner. "My Grandmother Likes Andy Williams Too" is led by bass, organ and drums. Piano joins in then a door bell rings. Such a cool track. "We Don't Like It Either" has strange processed vocals and a beat. "Last Train To Rhythmania" sounds great with that groovy organ, bass and drum soundscape. It picks up as the piano replaces the organ. The organ is back before 2 minutes. Samples join in. A change before 3 1/2 minutes. Lots of drums and percussion follows.

"...And The Producer Got Mad" has the sounds of cars going by like at a race track as the organ floats and drums pound. The piano leads late to end it. "Glove Story" has some nasty organ with drums until the piano takes over a minute in. "Laughin' People-Meanwhile : Starvin' Children" is a short piece with distorted organ and a beat. "Nothing's Holy 1" has more organ as the guitar plays over top. Organ only then the drums lead. Piano 1 1/2 minutes in and more guitar before 3 minutes. The organ leads late. "Concerto For Elevator" has floating organ and samples until jazzy bass with piano takes over. "War Business Is A Good Job" has a catchy rhythm and raw guitar. Love this track. "To End Or Not To End" is the short concluding song with floating organ and piano as a beat kicks in.

I like these albums that keep me interested and have a Psych flavour to them. A solid 4 stars.

Up first is "Burning Chapel" and the organ early on sounds incredible. We get some vocal melodies that come and go as the drums pound and the bass throbs. "Running For Life" has a beat with cymbals to start then it kicks in with organ. Nice bass too, in fact this is a killer tune. "Sexual Lover" has some more wicked bass and organ runs. It does settle as the organ floats above the soundscape.The vocal expressions after 3 minutes are cool.The drums lead before 6 minutes as fuzzed out bass and organ come and go. It kicks back in late to end it.

"Summer In The City" along with the next two songs are covers. Floating organ here as we get random drum patterns. It kicks in at 1/2 minutes. "California Dreaming" has a powerful intro before it settles into that familiar sound. And it sounds incredible with the nimble bass,solid drumming and fantastic sounding organ. "Reach Out, I'll Be There" is so well done and a great way to finish the record.

In my opinion this is well worth hunting down for the bass and organ alone.

The only thing available from Recreation is this 2 on 1 CD by Australian label Progressive Line. It is a real swell re-issue of one of the best kept secret of the Belgian scene in the 70's. I just wish there was more infos and that both artworks were correctly reproduced.

Read my separate album review, as they will tell you how indispensible this record is. The only gripe I have is that they inverted the two albums , so you will not listen to them chronologically since the debut is from track 16 untill 21. This will probably mean that you will have to scribble new track numbers on the black leaflet. I cannot understand they did not check the test pressing of this otherwise superb release.

Ladies and gentleman, please attach your seatbelt as we expect a storm of madness, a hurricane of notes and a typhoon of progressive rock for the duration of the flight disc. Please note that there are no parachutes aboard this plane and you can jump but at your own risk, however for those brave (or crazy enough) to hang on till the dénouement, we have a one way ticket to the Hotel Progifornia - you will never want to check-out and leave your wallet to the first bum on the street.

Right from the first track you will know that you are in a special ride with the classical being superseded by a screaming Zeppelin-esque guitar. Some 15 short tracks (only three of them above the 3 minute mark and them three just barely over 5 min), most of them linked to each other will take you in a gigantic swirl of sounds, an endless barrage of tempo changes and strange time signatures.

While not really RIO or not being jazz-rock either, the feel is somehow a bit Canterbury (the humour certainly is), but I chose to place them in Avant-prog. To actually tell you which track are the best or most representative is almost impossible as all these tracks are fairly de-structured (it is still relatively simple when you have a CD at hand, but I pity the ones having bought the vinyl, trying to find out where the hell they are on the album. Clearly the structures evolved Zappa's Mothers albums even if they do not sound the same. Only the relatively structured Last Train To Rhythmania can actually give you a hint of how the album is progressing. The aptly titled "..And The Producer Got Mad" (I think I can understand why even if I could eventually guess is the he WENT mad ;-) is simply awesome, Glove Story finding the punch, to knock you on your arse. Nothing's Holy is another aptly titled track and might just be considered as the centrepiece of the album (a bit of Strauss) and the other stand out is War Business with its deadly bass line (and good guitar improvs) and short national anthems as interludes. Remember these guys, although a KB-lead trio, sound NOTHING like ELP, but a lot more towards Egg.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for flying, know you will be back and now welcome to Insanity Beach and it is only a very short swim to the desert island, where this album will be on your top ten.

NEED I SAY MORE???????

Tought not!!!!!!!!!!!!

If the opener Burning Chapel is an underachiever (we vainly wait for the track to explode, expand and explore), Running For Life is clearly a step in the right direction, while Sexual Lover is clearly explorative even in a psychedelic musical sex orgy - a very Fudgey affair if you ask me. The second vinyl side is made of three fully rearranged covers, the first of which, you really have to pay attention to find the original slowed down (again the Fudge thing) Lovin' Spoonful classic - a masterstroke. Up next is a daring (but doomed) rendition of the hit California Dreamin - but who could have replaced those gorgeous vocal harmonies. As daring, bold audacious as it may be, this is partly successful- therefore implying also a failure - the Fudge would've not missed this one!!! Reach out is another strongly psyched and progged-out cover.

Although not perfect, this debut album holds much promise for the future and it will be bright (but short since they only made one more album), as the following is very Zappa- esque. Both albums have been recently re-issued (first time on Cd) by the Australian label Progressive line and it is an excellent 2 on 1 deal.