CIRCUMVISION

Dutch obscirity from late-70's.The band was formed in 1977 when bassist Twan van der Heiden, drummer Cees Michielsen and keyboardist Bert Vermijs, already known as King's Ransom, were joined by guitarist Jos Hustings, performing at the time as Carmine Queen.They were named apparently after the initial letters of ''King's Ransom And Carmine Queen''.Three days of recording sessions would lead to the private debut ''Circumvision'' in 1978, distributed in the limitied number of 500 copies.

Kracq had a very demanding proggy style regarding the period of its release, explaining why the band was short-lived.It was a combination of complex synth-driven Progressive Rock with plenty of breaks and adventurous semi-Symphonic Rock with limited melodic themes, compared to bands like HANDS, GENTLE GIANT and YEZDA URFA.The driving forces of their sound were the huge bass lines of Van Der Heiden and the multiple synth/keyboard attacks of Vermijs, supported by Hustings' jazzy guitar work, while the vocals are only sporadic.The musicianship is very intricate but maybe a bit too complex at moments with a large number of breaks and interplays.At least that is going on on the first LP side, while the second one presents a more lyrical Art Rock attitude in the vein of VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR or PETER HAMMILL.The songs have intense and dramatic moments with plenty of vocals, the performance of Hustings is good behind the microphone, while the music sounds a bit polished due to the heavy vocal content, though nothing close to accesible.So even the flipside is full of keyboard-based themes, including clavinet preludes, soft piano lines and sharp synthesizers.

''Circumvision'' is an album created by the passion of Kracq's members for Progressive Rock.The mediocre sound of the recordings and the complex yet a bit inconsistent instrumental themes prevent it from the ''essential'' label, but overall this is well-executed Progressive Rock with a strong vintage feeling.There is also a CD reissue around, available for order from the band's website.