Fruupp albums, initial opinion thus far
Printed From: Progarchives.com
Category: Progressive Music Lounges
Forum Name: Prog Recommendations/Featured albums
Forum Description: Make or seek recommendations and discuss specific prog albums
URL: http://www.progarchives.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=39106
Printed Date: August 07 2025 at 06:09
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Topic: Fruupp albums, initial opinion thus far
Posted By: progbaby
Subject: Fruupp albums, initial opinion thus far
Date Posted: June 17 2007 at 10:19
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Well, I posted the other day about my Fruupp purchase and how the "It's all up now" compilation album was misreprensented on cduniverse. Since the 4 Fruupp albums are hard to find and quite expensive, I decided to keep this compilation album since it's missing just one song from each of the 4 albums. Other than that it runs about 159 minutes across 2 cd's. My initial impression is that it's kind of disappointing but then again, how many times has prog albums grown on you? :-) Surprisingly, I'd have to say I did not care as much for the "Future Legends" tracks and found myself liking the "lowest rated" "Seven Secrets" album tracks the best. I'll give Fruupp credit. The music is a bit unique and not a clone of any other band at the time. They have enough string sections, oboes and such to give them a baroque/folky feeling but then they can rock with the best. The bass player stands out for me (probobly because I have been playing bass) as he has enough melodic and rhythmic content to keep some of the passages flowing. "White Eyes" is probobly my favorite track on the album. Another interesting thing about Fruupp is that they don't overuse the keyboards/mellotron and tend to keep themselves locked in with the piano much of the time. The keys/mellotron tends to compliment what's going on with the piano/bass. Interesting since many other bands tend to highlight keys before the actual el-piano. Just an observation. Maybe I'm wrong though. Initial listens though: None of the songs and tracks really stand out as classics but there's potential for most of the music to grow over repeated listens. Another other thoughts from people about Fruupp? |
Replies:
Posted By: proggy
Date Posted: June 17 2007 at 11:06
Just like Greenslade. Very, very Generic. Music is fine but the Vocals
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Posted By: J-dawg
Date Posted: June 17 2007 at 11:11
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Interesting band name, lame cover art, the song that's on MP3 on this site sucks. Ditto on the vocals. ... I hope it wasn't too expensive.  |
Posted By: Vibrationbaby
Date Posted: June 17 2007 at 13:01
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Well, I don't know what this guy's tastes are but I think the reviews in progarchives are pretty bang on for the most part. The band bio also mentions how they derived their name. They also used to open for Genesis in the early seventies. Bearing in mind the scarcity of their recordings I think you got a good deal. I liked them right away back in the seventies because I was just getting into progressive rock and they were along the lines of the stuff I was snapping up such as Gentle Giant The Strawbs etc. etc. I've beenmeaning to review one or two of their albums so I guess I'll dig them out. One of those less ostenatious bands that lacked the razzle dazzle of other contemporaries. Although they were from Northern Ireland they have a very English sound. A very folky and magical one that makes you think of elves and fairies you read about when you were a kid. Definitely one of my faves from the seventies. ------------- |
Posted By: salmacis
Date Posted: June 17 2007 at 15:10
Don't see how they are 'just like Greenslade'... I've never fully understood the Genesis comparisons either, to be honest.
My favourite of the albums is 'Prince Of Heaven's Eyes'- love the track 'It's All Up Now' especially. Perhaps they sound a bit twee compared to some of the bigger names but I enjoy them on their own terms- I personally like all 4 albums.
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Posted By: Vibrationbaby
Date Posted: June 17 2007 at 15:25
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Yeah me too. I agree with you on the Genesis comparisons as well. ------------- |
Posted By: erik neuteboom
Date Posted: June 18 2007 at 06:01
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Interesting band with unqiue prog sound based on varied compositions with strong vocals and alternating keyboards, at some moments Yes is evoking but in general Fruupp has a quite eclectic approach, blending, rock, folk, classical and symphonic.
In my opinion on one hand overlooked and on the other hand a bit underrated.
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Posted By: progbaby
Date Posted: June 18 2007 at 09:00
It was $20 US. That's not bad. I've been listening to them more this past weekend and I feel the purchase was worth it.
There's an error on the "It's all up now" anthology. The song they list as "Crystal Brook" is actually "Seaward Sunset" on the cd. So the "prince" album is missing the 'Crystal Brook' song.
I'm kind of bummed that the anthology is missing a song from each album but with the expensive price of each of the albums (plus the rarity as they're mostly out of print), the music is not worth it enough to shell out $25 per album just to get the 1 song that I'm missing.
Oh well. I'll never know what "Crystal Brook" sounds like as well as the other 3 missing tracks.
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J-dawg wrote:Posted By: Sean Trane
Date Posted: June 18 2007 at 09:19
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Not that much a fan of Fruupp, but I did make a full CD-r compilation of their 4 albums, wxhich I listen every second year .
More like third-league group that tried hard to raise themselves in the upper category, but simply lacked the chops to do it.
Whgich songs are lacking from that release?
------------- let's just stay above the moral melee prefer the sink to the gutter keep our sand-castle virtues content to be a doer as well as a thinker, prefer lifting our pen rather than un-sheath our sword |
Posted By: salmacis
Date Posted: June 18 2007 at 10:20
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I couldn't claim they were up there with the best but they didn't plumb the depths that the biggest bands did ('Union' and 'Love Beach' spring to mind).
Yeah I forgot to say that that CD has some flaws- I offer my apologies for that omission. I didn't realise this myself until I came to review 'Prince Of Heaven's Eyes' and found out that the track details didn't match the 'It's All Up Now' anthology....
I can't really be bothered to trace the original albums down either, seeing as there are only a few tracks missing. I believe the Gryphon anthology from the same label has similar flaws...dreadful quality control.
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Posted By: progbaby
Date Posted: June 18 2007 at 11:48
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I'd have to say that I'm the opposite of popular consensus. Even though I don't have the complete albums (due to this compilation) from what I have heard, I'd say I like their albums in this order (best being the first)
- Seven secrets
- Modern Masquerades
- Prince of Heaven's Eyes
- Future Legends
Seven Secrets has some really nice vocal harmonies on it and seems to be the most etheral/pastoral of the bunch. Modern Masquerades sounds ok to my ears as I'm a sucker for the 'lectric piano
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Posted By: Rolling Ronnie
Date Posted: June 18 2007 at 12:14
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I bought 'Seven Secrets' when it came out and really loved it, but somehow never followed up the rest of their stuff until the 'It's All Up Now' CDs came out. I enjoy them all, but I still prefer 'Seven Secrets' to the rest. Keyboard player Stephen Houston is now a TV Evangelist in the USA !!! http://www.drhouston.org/index-1-high.html |
Posted By: kenethlevine
Date Posted: June 18 2007 at 17:09
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geez I have it's all up now and I thought it was COMPLETE.
Off the top of my head, without listening again to confirm, it seemed like a 3 star to me. But as others have mentioned, I don't remember much. It did seem like their later stuff was better than the earlier stuff
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Posted By: progbaby
Date Posted: June 18 2007 at 23:16
Sad to say but it's far from complete  . The review on progarchives says that the anthology is missing 1 song per album. Actually, it's missing more than one song per album. It's missing: Future Legends - Olde tyme future Seven Secrets - Faced with Shekinah Prince of Heaven's eyes - Jaunting car *and* also Crystal Brook. The compilation lists "Crystal Brook" but the song on the cd is actually Seaward Sunset rather than Crystal Brook. Modern Masquerades - Mistery might So it's missing 5 tracks which run about 25+ minutes or so. The anthology does contain "On a Clear Day" which is not on the regular cd release. At this stage of the game, if I had to pick 1 album of theirs to buy, it would be Seven Secrets. If 2, it would be "7 secrets" and "Modern Masquerades". "Prince of heaven's eyes" and "Future Legends" have not captivated me. Maybe it's because the missing tracks might be the best ones?  |