MENTAL NOTES

This band was a great surprise coming from New-Zealand. At that time, extremely few bands from this remote country (for a European, but not only) did ever reached world recognition (and it is still the case).

But, these guys were extremely original. You could notice already in the cover of their debut album. A certain flair of craziness, bizarre atmosphere is to be noticed.

Their music is very special as well. Very much."Split Enz". Even if the early "Roxy" could be named as an influence. The weirdness starts with the very first notes of the opening number. It ends with the last ones of the short (just over thirty seconds) closing track.

Keyboards have a major influence ("Under The Wheel", "Stranger Than Fiction") and the vocal parts are rather disjointed ("So Long For Now").

Arrangements are quite sophisticated and themes are frequently changing throughout a same song (somewhat in the vein of "10CC" to which the band could also be related to IMO).

Decadent and upsetting can also describe this work (like the good but confidential UK band "Seventh Wave"). "Stranger Than Fiction" is probably the number which best highlights this characteristic. Some sort of mini-opera. An excellent song. Complex, unexpected, but brilliant. The most intricate piece of music and one of the best from Mental Notes.

Another good song is the soft "Time For A Change" with fine mellotron lines and a smooth melody. There are very little weak moments on this album and songs as "Titus" and "Spellbound" (especially the latter) are very pleasant. There is actually only the very short title track which doesn't really fit in here. Maybe just a wink from this impressive band.

It is difficult to relate this work with prog IMO. But its originality should please a lot of progheads. It must have been quite an experience to see these guys on stage (which I did not).

Seven out of ten would have been my rating; but I will increase it to four stars thanks to the originality of this album.