BEGGAR JULIA'S TIME TRIP

Beggar Julia's Time Trip is this Dutch group's sophomore release, following their still-early-Prog '69 self-titled. Not inaccurately considered a Classical Crossover band, Ekseption covers compositional material from the broad classical/art music canon, though significantly less here than with their debut. Instead, the vast majority of tracks are penned by keyboardist Rick van der Linden, who 4 years later would briefly depart to form and record with the Prog trio Trace, featuring early Focus drummer--and somehow bearing no relation to Rick--Pierre van der Linden (the same surname and you're not even cousins? on paper or anything? haha).

The album begins w/ a van der Linden original, "Ouverture", a Baroque-style instrumental with a clean sound to start and a very tasteful flute solo from Dick Remelink. Midway, the track softens and then slowly builds into classic Jazz Rock. The synths which close out the high-intensity church organ are really something for the time (no surprise coming from a master such as Rick). To follow is a monologued "Prologue". With a deep, though quiet drone and the constant clashing of cymbals, the track is almost like Tolkien. I found the writing to be impressive and gripping. Seamlessly, we are then musically introduced to our album's protagonist, "Julia". A bizarre, increasingly-frustrated counting of ump-teen hundreds is heard immediately following for a very short 30 seconds on "Flying Power". All tension there is abandoned with the warm buzz of electric organ at the start of "Adagio" (by Italian Baroque composer Tomaso Albinoni). This gets rapidly jazzier, as Rick offers a plunky solo on what I assume to be spinet (what sounds like harpsicord). This solo is its strongest element, but it disappears as quickly as it entered the mix.

In what I'd consider an awfully positive turn in the album, "Space 1" (credited to J.S. Bach) acts as a truly spacy, still futuristic (and I feel somewhat ahead of its time) interlude. What follows is another Bach credit, "Italian Concerto in F BWV 971 (1. Allegro)", one of the more confident Symphonic Prog songs thus far. This morphs into what I'd consider broadly Post-Bop in the middle before returning to overtly classical. Pretty strong track. In a totally other tone, "Concerto" (Tchaikovsky) is a triumph, filled with positivity so obvious , you may get a little sick from it haha. Thank God then for the little tension later provided. This composition, I would think, should be very familiar (starting around 1:00, at least) to anyone old enough to retain memory of (at least), I don't know, 15 years of their life. It's pretty iconic. And what they do with it is certainly pleasant, especially with the inclusion of some backburner, back-of-the-mix lead guitar (uncredited?). Despite what I said at the start, this is one of the strongest songs of the whole, with a range of tones, colors, emotions, and other synonyms.

To follow is the next interluding track, "Space 2", a mysterious tone, suddenly broken up by the thumping groove of "Pop Giant". The horn stabs are reminiscent to Chicago, especially (much welcomed). Likewise welcomed are the honestly great vocals from percussionist Michel Van Dijk. And then there's this sultry sax solo on something so markedly feeling, it may as well have been Oliver Nelson's "Stolen Moments". This is delicious, proggy Jazz Rock! Continuing in the same tone, following the fleeting "Space 3", "Feelings" is next. So natural, and yet revealed to be so much brighter. The bass from Cor Dekker is very Psych Pop (so it's incredible). It's so high in the mix and I'm really feeling that choice. This is one of the more clear examples of Classical Crossover on the album [Many tracks on Beggar Julia seldom meld Jazz and Classical so tightly]. Queue fading sax solo as we then bleed into "Epilogue", a dark and eerie tune with a final monologue. Julia must've had one helluva trip, huh? Who's ready for their next? We then finally have the "Finale: Music for Mind / Theme Julia". And Rick really takes us to church here. The organ reminded me of the stellar Prog Pop song "I'm O.K." by Styx, some 8 years later.

Overall, a very handsomely packaged, cohesive album of early Symphonic Prog (with happy sprinklings of Jazz Rock). Its highs are notable, yet, as with any album of this just-secondary caliber, only carry her so far. Certainly glad I listened.

True Rate: 3.5/5.0