JAZZ ROCK/FUSION

Favorite songs: the SANTANA/STEELY DAN-like jam, 1. "Nadir" (9/10), the Hendrix-plays-with- The-Softs-sounding, 2. "Dandelion" (9/10), the slow-building DIAGONAL-like 5. "Tiglath" (8:28) (9/10), and the lovely Windham Hill-sounding pastoral acoustic ensemble of 6. Piu Limpida e Chiara di Ogni Impressione Vissuta (Pt.2) (3:21) (8/10).

Nice work, Contrarians!

4 stars.

Although this is a great album I have always liked it a tad less than the debut. It is lacking that incessant raw and fervent drive throughout its entirety that made the first album so amazing. The songs are more varied in their approach and the music is generally the same in its sound, yet something about this album just seems like a tamed down version of the debut as a whole. Whereas the debut was a energetic display of adrenaline from beginning to end, I find this one is dragged down a tad with slower numbers like the instrumental "Samba Pa Ti." Nothing on here is bad by any means and it's only a relativity issue for me. It also hasn't helped that I have heard the hit singles on this album to death! Even after giving classic rock radio a break for many years, I still find "Black Magic Woman" a song I no longer like to hear. Make no doubt about it, it is a classic of classics but some music can become toxic after too many listens and this i'm afraid is one of those tracks that I haven't been able to recover from. Despite that an outstanding album that just doesn't reach perfection in my world.

Opener `Glas Sa Obale Boje' jumps back and forth between a slightly downbeat acoustic ballad that comes alive with togetherness in the chorus with fiery and brooding electric guitar riffs in the middle and end. The fourteen minute four-part `Put Na Istok' shares a similar unpredictable and all-or-nothing eclectic approach to Italian band Banco del Muruo Soccorsso and well as the jazzy vibes of Samurai/The Web. Full of lengthy instrumental displays, Josip Bocek's electric guitar is all thick muscular grinding one second, dirty grooving Santana-like sweltering strutting the next, Kornelije's red-hot electric piano a dazzling swirl of movement. Drummer Vladimir Furduj is all wild yet controlled fury, and Bojan Hreljac's bass weaves throughout the background and constantly leaps forward. Plenty of tempo changes, some sedate and thoughtful rests, psychedelic dreaminess and lots of call-and-response dueling interplay between Zlatko Pjakovic's commanding vocals and the rest of the musicians makes for a thrilling extended piece that is truly infectious and addictive.

Side B's `Moj Bol' is a sultry upbeat strolling jazz workout, comprised of spiraling piano, hand percussion and slow-burn electric guitar ripples around Zlatko's voice, a mix of lustful croons and spitting deranged rants. Bojan's bass is a real highlight here, effortlessly adapting to the changing directions of the piece with ease. Right from it's opening seconds, `Bezglave Ja-Ja Horde' is a frantic jazz/fusion race, delirious electric piano runs, slithering bass and nimble drum-work running rings around each-other, the scorching electric guitar taking on a wicked snarl around Zlatko's theatrical bellowing. Closer `Tata Ko, I Mama Spo' is a warm acoustic ballad with a strong vocal melody and pleasing electric guitar fills throughout, displaying how well the band had perfected more compact pieces over the years prior to this, and the electric piano break in the middle is sublime and restrained.

The recent CD reissue by label Eastern Time in 2013 includes eight bonus tracks of singles and their b-sides, a nice way to hear the way the band evolved into what is offered on the main album here. Within two years they would rename themselves Kornelyans and release an English language album recorded in Italy called `Not An Ordinary Life', further heading in progressive rock directions. But for this first `Korni Grupa' album, it's a personal Yugoslavian favourite of mine alongside the self-titled Izvir album, and the lengthy soloing/instrumental improvisation and superior vocals makes it a winner to me.

Four stars.

When I first started listening to jazz as a child, it was bands led by drummers that I became most interested in, and the very first jazz album I ever bought with my own money was by Gene Krupa. There is something about music being geared towards the complexity and freedom that comes from a powerhouse at the back that really lifts the overall, and if you normally listen to metal then you would have to agree that Testament's recent stunning live opus just wouldn't be half as dynamic if Gene Hoglan wasn't behind the kit. Only four of these compositions are group numbers, with the other seven all scored by Xavi, but the common theme throughout is the sheer amount of space that these guys have given themselves to work with. That they are all stunning musicians are never in doubt, but they know the importance of simplicity as well as complexity, and know the right time to deliver what is required, with fuzzed distortion adding to the overall sound.

The three musicians work off each other, and the result is an avant garde album that combines improvisation with funk and melody, distortion and feedback with clean struck notes, polyrhythmic sounds with simple timekeeping, so much so that the listener never really knows what is coming next. A very strong production tops off yet another incredibly strong release from the Moonjune label. www.moonjune.com

But not any band can claim such an all-star cast under their name-title. Let me start with long time sax legend Pharoah Sanders. To think that this guy more than once played alongside the great John Coltrane, well, talks a bit about his level of performance. (He also played alongside composer and piano player Alice Coltrane, John's wife). Pharoah Sanders brought the "esoteric" performance element, to both Coltrane's music, as he does in his appearances in this 1997, ARCANA "Arc of Testimony" album.

Bill Laswell, well as I mentioned somewhere, is a freaking musical genius. But what I didn't emphasize then, but do now, is that he is also a hell of a bass player, as the skilled composer, multi-instrumentalist he is. Tony Williams (who died during this recording), well, anyone aquainted with this sub-genre knows his fondness for "grandeure". Also familiar to proggers guitarist Buckethead, which spiraling and haunting licks enhance the greatest peaks this record ascends. And everybody relying on Nicky Skopelitis guitar riffs. Graham Haynes contributes with his cornet on 2 tracks. Well! This is ARCANA.

How they sound? Like blending "old school" modern Jazz with Bill Laswell's intricate music figures and ever expansive "ambiental" structures. Moving towards stilistic perfection, but within a "chaotic" environment. The "esoteric" Pharoah Sanders leaving his heart in each of his interventions, as always! But each musician takes turns in the development of each track, so creativity runs wild, but never out of place, in the hands of these musicians' extraordinary and masterful performance skills!

****4.5 "Jazz/Fusion taken on a wild ride" PA stars.

For the brave at heart Prog/Jazz fans!

An organic amalgam of loose Jazz, smooth Psychedelic Rock and intense Fusion was what this septet was offering at the time and the combination worked pretty great at moments, switching from dreamy interplays, powerful solos, ethereal sax lines and sinister Hammond organ waves.They do sound a bit like compatriots AME SON and, of course, MAGMA, although the Jazz component is more pronounced in ''Rhesus O''.The line-up of seven musicians allowed the band to create a vast palette of jazzy rhythms and solos, either performed with some furious electric piano and deep double bass or featuring the darker sound of organ, but always including the work of Hatot on sax.The music gets very dense and closer to Progressive Rock quite often with full keyboard/piano battles, electroacoustic changes and sax interventions in pieces which also include a more active role for the bass players.And there are even a couple of parts with some sort of Classical edge, executed on organ and harsichord.Best highlights of the album appear to be the fantastic changes between emphatic, dreamy, loose Jazz Rock and a more structured and Fusion-oriented Psych/Prog.At last a couple of folky, depressive flute parts add the album yet another dimension towards the end.

When Moze left to rejoin Magma he was replaced by Bernard Paganotti (who went on to become also a member of the French pioneers) and Richard Raux, a session sax player, who also played with Magma, Laurent Thibault and Popol Ace among others.The band was moving towards a more brass-oriented sound, but soon Paganotti and Raux quit along with original drummer Thierry Blanchard to be replaced by Chad-born Manfred Long on bass, Jean-Michel Herve on sax and Christian Ducamps on drums.1972 additions included also bassist Marc Bertreaux and trumpetist Michel Boss, but just when Rhesus O started recording new pieces Monier joined the army for his service and the contract with CBS came to an end, resulting the band's dissolution.Keyboardist Jean-Pol Asseline would also meet his destiny with Magma circa 1975, meeting again with Paganotti, and was a regular musician on Jean-Pierre Alarcen's solo albums.

Good, early-70's Jazz/Fusion with progressive overtones and slight, psychedelic explorations.Musea's reissue is a good chance to meet Rhesus O's rich and jazzy sound.Recommended stuff.

The mood is mostly happy and relaxed. A good example is the long instrumental 'Message from the Coral Reef', or a shorter one 'In Rainy Weather'. This would be perfect music for a summer evening's outdoor concert. The track with the only Finnish title is a passionate, slow instrumental with delicious parts for flute and organ, and a very vibrating electric piano. Some of the vocal songs reveal a strong influence of Afro-American music (soul, funk, etc), but equally important is the European music tradition rooted in art music. Perhaps the album's greatest delight is 'Classical Stairs and Garden', 17 and ½ minutes of wonderful, effortlessly flowing instrumental Fusion, up there with the best of PEKKA POHJOLA or JUKKA TOLONEN.

In the very tender 'In the Long Wait of the Wedding' Jukka sings the brief lyrics in French! Beautiful arrangement featuring e.g. flute and strings. The groovy but rather peaceful song 'This Elegy Will Always Be' is a decication to a pet cat. It has nice electric piano, and presumably an ud solo by guitarist Pekka Nylund. I notice that I enjoy this album much more than in the first listening. The bluesiest things may not be so much up to my taste, but for once there's not a single irritating track around. This is an extremely solid album with 66 minutes of pure, breathing music that is never left in the shadow of more litarary approach.

Opening on a few bars of a Klezmer-Manouche tune (like we've all hear a thousand times before), Sonic Riot veers a tad Gong-esque with an excellent closing passage with spacey electronics and trons. 15/05 is building on that feeling and the electronic gizmos are gaining in importance. As the album progresses with every new rack, one can only be captivated with the typical British jazz and JR/F scene of the 70's. Indeed, the shadows of Elton Dean, then Harry Beckett and Annie Whitehead (all participants to the band's previous efforts) seem to hover all over the album, much to our delight. There is a real tension that gradually builds up through tracks like Sheepwrecked (Crimson circa Lizard meets Wyatt) and following blistering Acquiring The Taste and Lifting Belly, where a Canterburian feel seep through via fuzzed-out instruments. The adventurous explorations continue, from the trashy Matching Mole-ish Malign Siesta to the lava-boiling Waves and the out-of-this-world Saturn. The album ends with a rework of Delville's Unbelievable Truth from the Elton Dean session album of the same name.

If you must own only one album from TWO, it would be a die-hard choice between the Dean collab and this one, but if you're into a more classical progressive, their latest album After The Exhibition, which is some kind of rebirth (given the important line-up changes, we can almost guess the band came close to a term) is also quite an awesome realisation. Personally, Shed is my personal fave from these guys.

Despite the heavy line-up changes, you'll have no problems recognizing instantly TWO, but I would not call ATE just another Wrong Object album. This is probably the band's most "prog-rock" album, despite retaining its heavy JR/F and Zappa atmospheres. The heavy Detox Gruel is a mix of riffs and gypsy jazz music. The three-parts and almost 17-mins Jungle Cow is the centrepiece of the album, but hardly the most accessible, as the first two movements are often bordering on dissonance, but it remains reasonable, and the third really delivers the good with some cool dramatics. The following Glass Cubes features female vocals, and though it brings a breath of fresh air, though the start has a "déjà-entendu", but the second part sounds like a cross of Gong meets Kate Bush.

A fine return to affairs from a group most of us thought dead (or at least dormant), although it doesn't reach the perfection of Stories From The Shed. While ATE might not be the most representative of their usual soundscapes (given the important line-up changes), it's still very much a worthy TWO album, and ranks in my top 5 album of 2013, among with Maalouf's Illusions and Setna's Guérison. Definitely worth investigating.

'How About Today?' is a tight, rollicking, up-tempo composition, very rock oriented in sound; Seppo Tyni's electric guitar is in the centre. I wouldn't place this one high in Pekka's scale, or in fact, in the scale of Jazz-Rock / Fusion in genera, newcomers included. The title track is a delicate and more thoughtful piece as its name would suggest. It's built on a simple melody (not unusual in his composing style) but the way the music grows grander before returning to gentler touch is really fine. One could think there's not enough substance for 6 ½ minutes, but there is. 'Il Carillon' is a solo piano composition (played by the respected pianist Liisa Pohjola from the same big musical family). It seems to have some Sibelius influence and Debussy-like impressionism. I believe it would be considered very convincing by the art music critics too.

'Pressure' is very easily recognized as a typical Pekka Pohjola composition with the heavily repeated leitmotif and its stretching to the limit. It may be a matter of taste are there enough ideas for 10 ½ minutes or not. Well, he's done similar things more succesfully too. The synths are central in the sound. The progressivity comes mostly as dynamic changes, not in the melodies. But the best is saved for last: 'Beauty and the Beast' (10:54) is a highly progressive track full of rich details; the arrangement is very many-sided, from the funkiness of brass to the exciting synth patterns and the strings in the final section.And above all is the gorgeous bass playing! This is the masterpiece that justifies the four-star rating, even if the album as a whole is more uneven than most of his earlier works.

The 2002 CD edition includes also a brief summary of Pekka Pohjola's career up to that point.