EUROPEAN TOUR 1977

Here is another cool album from Carla Bley and her band. This one is a live album, that features two familiar names here at Progarchives, Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper, both very well known from Soft Machine's fusion years.

The standout track is Wrong Key Donkey, the most fusion-filled song on the album. It's a hot electric jam, the only piece here that evokes Soft Machine in any manner. Rose And Sad Song and Drinking Music are wonderful as well. They are both composed big band pieces, that show off Bley's avant garde writing style. It's needless to say that the horn solos are exquisite.

The final track, Spangled Banner Minor And Other Patriotic Songs is hit or miss. It begins with a arrangement of the American national anthem played in a minor key (Who would have guessed from the title?), and devolves into a melange of well known (by us Americans,at least) tunes, many played over each other, some only slightly fleeting in and out of the song. It's an awkward song, that can be irritating if you are not in the right mood.

Three great songs, and one iffy one? Just barely makes 4 stars.