DELPHI

Musically it's very good - CAMEL, CAMEL all the way, and this release is mostly for those who always tend to see more jazzy/even Canterburish side of CAMEL's music. The highlight is 14-minutes long "Fragments Of Biotope Suite-Firefly", but other tracks like title opener and strange "Villa Dei Misteri" must be mentioned as well. The main flaw of the record is quality - hardly bearable, some tracks are taken from tapes without any mastering I guess,one track is recorded from live show and it proves the musical gift of this obscured but recommended band.If you're not afraid of low quality and love CAMEL, you must get this one immediately! Recommended!

Released in 1995, many many years after the band's demise, "Delphi" is a rough, unpolished exhibition of the exquisite melodic approach to symphonic prog that Bellaphon so gracefully incarnated in the enthusiastic progressive scene that developed in Japan during the early 80s. It is a pity that this album's sound quality is so inconsistent and irregular, since you can notice that the playing is competent, the ensemble's sound is fluidly organic and the compositional ideas are tight. No way that you can appreciate it properly in thoese moments in which the sound gets really poor. I have to disagree with others' ratings for this album that go under the 3 star grade, but I can fairly see their point when they feel disappointed at this album's sound: I am too, but mostly, I intend to review this album on the music alone. Bellaphon was consistently inspired by two Camels, the one with Sinclair and the one with Watkins (the 77-81 era), as well as some elements of melodic jazz-fusion that emerge in places (something like a "symphonized" Corea, so to speak). The namesake track opens up the album with eerie, romantic moods, mainly based on the lovely synth orchestrations that carry the burden of the track's melodic scheme - their chamber orientation makes the whole instrumentation cry "symphonic!!" from the deepest corners of its "sonic lungs". Track 2 bears a more ambitious structure concernign composition and arrangements, with a noticeably dramatic effect in the motif and tempo shifts: the crystal clear cohesion that goes through the varying sections reveals quite clearly (despite the sound flaws) that the band's a tight unit, a dream come true for prog fans that saw their classic idols fade away in teh 80s one way or another in teh European market. The 14 minute span has been taken advantage of pretty well by all musicians involved. Track 4 is also an extended composition, although this time the sense of cohesion is not as well accomplished as in track 2, but all in all, it still has the merit of retaining Bellaphon's penchant for clean melodic structures and polished developments of them. Between these two epics, 'No Guarded City' happens to be one of the catchiest tracks in the album: it encapsulates a solid, evolving mixture of "Rain dances"-Camel and an inspired sort of standard neo-prog. 'La Villete' is a jazzier venture, and it is so well accomplished that its suration of less than 4 minutes feels terribly short: the main body got an efective melodic hook that, in case teh band decided to enhance it in an exploding climax, might have been mistaken as a Kenso piece. Well, things are as they are and this is all we can get from this track, which is quite good anyway. 'Villa dei Misteri' is the track that completes this album's repertoire, a tremendously colorful track that undeniably shows a joyful spirit - its musical brightness comes at odds with the irregular sound production. I think that "Delphi" is not a record in the truest sense of the word, but a testimony of the efforts that Bellaphon made to preserve the progressive flame in their country: they were talented, so they do not deserve to be forgotten at all. I give this album 3.75 stars, which is almost 4.

If you can survive to the title track that seems the intro to a police b-movie of the 70s, you'll discover a Camel clone band. What's good in a clone? The fact that there are no many Camel clones around the world, the fact that the keyboardist is as skilled as Pete Bardens and, last but not least, the songwriting is excellent.

The first track is partially saved by a good guitar riff close to the song's end, but the track is quite boring. Survive to it.

Everything changes with "Fragments Of Biotope Suite-Firefly". It's a long track that starts with winds and subtle keyboard. Very similar to "Lunar Sea". Since now the whole album appears to be inspired to Moonmadness. Unfortunately the quality of the production is very low since now to above, but if you love Camel of the period of "A Live Record" this album can give you the same sensations. The bass seems played by Doug Ferguson and the melodic line is based on an ascending sequence that's very typical of that Camel's era. After 5 minutes we are back to "Snow goose" and this is how the song proceeds. Well, it's like listening to a Camel's forgotten album and this is how it sould be listened to. Suspend your judgement about a band that doesn't produce anything original and listen just to the music. This is how this band can be appreciated.

"No Guarded City" looks at the jazzy side of Camel (Liggin' at louis or the central section of the already mentioned Lunar Sea as reference).

"Overture-La :Nuova Citta: Di Atlantis" (why the Italian title? who knows?) is the worst recording in terms of sound quality. It seems more a studio reharsal recored on a 4-track. It's a pity because the song isn't that bad, but the sound quality makes it irritating.

"La Villette" is one of the best moments of the whole album even if just 3 minutes long. An odd tempo for the less Camel inspired track. It's still very Canterbury but it could be any other Canterbury band. Only the guitar tries to sound like Latimer.

The album is closed by "Villa dei MisterI" (another Italian title). Again the production is very poor. It would have been a very good track.

The fact that this album has been released many years after the recording says everything. Somebody in the label has found some tapes of this band and has tried to make some "money for nothing". Without the problems with the sound quality I could have rated this at least 3 stars, but the production is part of the product so I suggest it only to hard Camel fans who are addicted to this kind of music (like I am).

It's a pity, but I can give it only two stars

This album is made of unreleased tracks and a live one.

For the ones who have listened to their "Firefly" album, I would say that this one is less interesting except during the longest number ("Fragments of Biotape Suite ? Firefly") which combines aerial and symphonic keyboards with wild electric guitar. This was much the case in their debut; and at times I could compare the guitar sounds with the ones from Carlos Santana.

The third track "No Guarded City" is fully jazz oriented, with here again some crazy guitar. Still, the whole sounds loose and more of an improvisation (it was recorded live). Not my cup of tea as you might know.

Symphonic instrumental lovers will probably appreciate this work: keyboards especially are well played and some "Genesis" relation can be felt while "Overture - La Nouva?" is being played. Even if the drum solo was probably not necessary.

I think that this album doesn't make a lot of sense.

Some lost "jewels" that could have remained in the drawer as far as I'm concerned. It is better to stick with their first album (which I rated with four stars). This one can hardly compete (as it is often the case with such releases). Five out of ten, but rounded down to two stars.