LIGHT FANTASTIC

Like many 1970s symphonic prog groups, German or otherwise, Ramses faced challenges in the 1980s. They felt they had to streamline their sound, or else oblivion would be their fate. Sadly, even this process rarely succeeded, perhaps because the prog ghosts are everywhere on such recordings, and few fans or programmers had the taste for it anymore.

While the lengthy epics with major instrumental workouts are all but gone, and the pop orientation is often simultaneously underwhelming and overbearing, ultimately "Light Fantastic" is a worthwhile listen if you enjoy early 1980s neo prog and dumbed down 1970s styles. Like Eloy, Ramses took the Alan Parsons project approach as they entered the decade, and songs like "Force of Habit" and "Earth in the Dark" are convincing tunes with strong vocals, melodies and excellent arranging and playing. They also threw in a bit of Fleetwood Mac in "Transport of Joy". Sometimes the choruses show a lack of imagination, as in the otherwise engaging title track, but only the opener "Sorry Ma" is completely dispensable.

"Light Fantastic" sports barely the vestige of "La Leyla" or "Eternity Rise", and is not an original work at all, but then even Ramses' early recordings were highly derivative of what was going on at the time, or several years before, so taken in the context of its time, this is a good, not great album that deserved more notice.

This is an extremely embarassing album. I have liked Ramses very much at the time of release of their best album "La Leyla" in '75. Thier second effort was still a good album. But this one ! What a desillusion !

The great symphonic songs are not from this Ramses any longer. Of course, times have changed : punk and new wave have devastated Europe and bands like Ramses had little choice but change, I guess. But falling this low is pretty sad. This album sounds as a poor ELO one (you know like any of their eighties album). Disco-ish, insipid rhythm for most of the "songs".

Only very few of them will escape from this nighmare. It is hard to say that a song like "Force Of Habit" is probably one of the few audible song of this album. I guess that it would not even be included as bonus tracks on their previous two albums. There is very little to say about this release (and actually, very few people made comments about this album). Two minutes of it are brilliant : the intro of "Across The Everglades" which is the last song featured on the original album.

There will be a bonus track on the CD release (1994). "Noise" is the name of the track. I should say the new name. Because it is a remix of "War" one of the songs from "La Leyla". The original one was a protest song against the war in Vietnam. This remix, will be available on the US release of "Light Fantastic". I guess that to be polically correct, they re-wrote the lyrics of this good original song. Shame on you Ramses.

This is a very bad album. Poor stuff, unfortunately. There is no hesitation : if you want to listen to a very good album, have a try on their debut one. To prolong the experience, you can investigate "Eternity Rise" but do not go further. This is absolutely no prog. What is this actually ?

One star.

I never thought of Ramses as the most minblowing band out there, but I do very much enjoy their first two albums, La Leyla and Eternity Rise, demonstrating that you can still make decent prog in the late '70s. Eloy proved great prog can still be had in the early '80s with Colours, Planets, and Time to Turn. I only wish I could say the same for Ramses, since 1981's Light Fantastic is like too many other '70s prog bands who couldn't really seem to make the transition into the new decade. With another great sci-fi cover, looks like the same artist who graced their previous two albums, it looks like it's up there with their previous two, sadly that's not the case. This album finds them recording largely more pop-oriented material. Some stuff like "Transport of Joy" really push me over the edge. That one is pretty insipid. "Carry On" starts off nicely, but then the chorus and synth kicks in, and it's pretty cheesy. "Force of Habit" and "Earth into the Dark" aren't bad, and "Across the Everglades" is a pretty nice instrumental, a bit in the Alan Parsons Project vein. Of course, if you own the CD reissue, you notice that "Noise" is considerably better. This song was included on the American release of La Leyla, which was basically "War" with lyrics changed to addressing noise pollution and environmental destruction. Apparently their American label Annuit Coeptis didn't feel comfortable about a song addressing the Vietnam War, which was still too fresh in American minds in '76 so the band was forced to record a new version of the song. Light Fantastic is like too much I've heard from the early '80s. Stick with their first two albums and give this a pass.