ESCENES

This is one of the more surprising albums I've listened to. From Catalonia Spain, Gótic released their debut "Escenes," in 1978 to little critical acclaim or notice. They faded into obscurity, not to be seen again until 2016 when they dropped an album of previously unreleased tracks known as "Gegants Serpentines." This album has a very obvious Camel influence from "The Snow Goose," mixed with heavy Jazz fusion.

The clean Fender Rhodes opens "Escenes de La Terra en Festa I de La Mar en Calma" (Translating to "Scenes of The Land in Celebration and The Sea in Calm") followed by the lush flutes of Jep Nuix. The flute riff takes the song in a thousand directions, but my favorite part is when everything calms down after a minute of chaos, and the remainder of the song is a beautiful amalgamation of strings, flutes, and bass progressions. "Imprompt" is the classic jazz fusion cut on this record, very reminiscent of Chick Corea and Return to Forever, with the high-intensity electric piano and Moog interplay. Keyboardist Jordi Vilaprinyó has no issue playing in tough time signatures and for this reason, the band can pull off some extremely complex arrangements. "Jocs d'Ocells" is another heavily dominated track by Jordi Vilaprinyó. The flute is the perfect compliment this time opening with the ethereal piano. When the drums kick in the main progression is stunning, and one of the best moments on the album. The song has a very airy and light theme to it, which is probably why it was aptly titled Jocs d'Ocells (which means "Bird Games" in English." Closing out Side A, "La Revolucio" is written by renowned bassist Rafael Escoté, which is one of his two contributions to the album. The progression is very fast, with heavy drums, handclaps, yet light flutes to add some contrast.

"Danca d'Estiu," meaning "Summer Dance" opens Side B. This is probably my favorite song on this album, due to how short and sweet it is. Just when the album starts to feel a little repetitive with very familiar flute and electric piano progressions, this track takes a turn in a much more symphonic direction towards the end with a unique organ interlude. "I Tu Que Ho Veies Tot Tan Facil" is the second to last tack on here and translates to "And you who saw everything so easily." The song is the perfect representation of what I picture the theme song of the album cover would be. We hear electric guitar from a guest for the first time on this LP, and it sounds extremely sustained and Floydian. The organ from the prior track makes its return for a nice section which leads into a moog-dominated closeout. The album closes with the beautiful 10-minute epic "Historia d'una Gota d'Aigua" or "Story of a Drop of Water." The song is a massive buildup (Presumably meant to represent the ups and downs of a water droplet's life) and begins with acoustic guitar and flute in a somber melody. Around the 4:45 mark, the electric guitar leads into the main melody of the finale with piano and flute. To me, this melody defines this album: Serene, Complex, Airey, and remarkable. The song climbs the volume ladder until the final exertion of the lick (which has been layered with strings, guitar, piano, Fender Rhodes, deep bass, and heavy cymbals) and ends on a crashing note.

To wrap up, this album is a borderline masterpiece for me. As with many bands in the late 70's era, they were too late to the prog train and were ultimately swept under the rug. This album is a stunning piece that most prog fans will enjoy and is one of those gems that slipped out in the 1970s just after prog's peak passed and which got sadly overlooked.