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Circus 2000 - Circus 2000 CD (album) cover

CIRCUS 2000

Circus 2000

 

Psychedelic/Space Rock

3.32 | 56 ratings

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siLLy puPPy
Special Collaborator
PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic
3 stars CIRCUS 2000 was one of the anomalies to have emerged out of Italy in the early years of the 60s beat / psychedelic rock scene morphing into the more complex styles that swept the early 70s. Described by some as Italy's version of Jefferson Airplane, CIRCUS 2000 did indeed buck the trend that Italian rock was undertaking at the time. While most bands of the day were staunchly fixed on using their own native tongue for lyrical expression as well steeping themselves in elements of classical and jazz rock, CIRCUS 2000 looked westward, the California scene more accurately for their inspiration. A surprising reverse scenario as at the time most Americans were looking towards Europe for much of theirs especially in the emerging prog scene.

The comparisons to Jefferson Airplane came not only from the fact that CIRCUS 2000 engaged in a psychedelically tinged form of progressive pop fronted by a charismatic female singer, in this case Silvana Aliotta who joined the already established group Best Genius and quickly changed their name (imposed change by the record company Ri-Fi), but also because even within their own nation, CIRCUS 2000 was mistaken for being an American band due to the fact that the song titles were in English as were the lyrics. The overall style does very much sound like something that would've emerged in the San Francisco scene rather than anything remotely Italian. Due to the band's crossover potential, the record label allowed the band to record the album in English but demanded that singles be released in Italian, however commercially speaking the band never really took off and released only two albums.

The eponymously titled debut album was released in 1970 and captured the zeitgeist of the changing times but mostly resides on the 60s side of the timeline. Firstly Silvana Aliotta exudes the perfect alter ego of Grace Slick with nearly identical vocal phrasings, stylistic flair with the hippie inspired mystical lyrics in full free love form, however i find she sounds a lot more like Mariska Veres of Shocking Blue who was also a disciple of Slick's feminine bravado. While similar with Jefferson Airplane stylistically speaking, CIRCUS 2000 doesn't sound like them exactly. More like the alternate universe version. While steeped in California psychedelic pop with catchy guitar rhythms augmented by bass and drums, CIRCUS 2000 eschewed any organs, utilizes tribal drumming and guitar slides that evoke some Indo-raga influences as well. An occasional harmonica is heard and of course at this stage, the blues is a major ingredient in the compositions.

While the attention getting album cover stands out amongst the burgeoning musical scene even by today's standards, the music doesn't. CIRCUS 2000 delivered a very pleasant slice of period piece psychedelic pop but in terms of catchy well-crafted hooky melodies doesn't reach the heights of either Jefferson Airplane or Shocking Blue for that matter. This debut is a rather short album just shy of the thirty minute mark and its 10 tracks are all very short and to the point, the perfect recipe for chart topping possibilities however the band never seems to shine in any way. While every track is performed nicely and flow into each other at an even keeled pace, CIRCUS 2000 hadn't quite mustered up enough individual flair for this to really stand out and despite falling into the camp of early progressive rock, this is much more pop oriented than many of the bands that were emerging in the scene by 1970. Still though, a pleasant listen and recommended for those who love to check out some of the obscurities of the era.

siLLy puPPy | 3/5 |

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