LADY OF SHALOTT

Get ready for a big shock when you will listen to this.

Of course it does sound as "Yes". So what ? Can you imagine a bunch of Israeli youngsters producing prog rock at his best in 77 ? Well, listen to this album.

The opener "Lady Of Shalott" is fantastic. Vocals are so close to Jon's ones that you really believe that it is a YesForgotten album.

The comparison with the master is easy : great symphonic moments, complex instrumental passages (especially in "Cuckoo"), very good musicianship (Moti Fonseka sounds as Howe at times). This band really deserves a close listen.

Three stars for this effort.

social review comments | Review Permalink
Posted Tuesday, December 26, 2006 | Review this album | Report (Review #104616)

This is simply amazing music!!

Atmosphera really out did them selves, being only kids when they recorded it, this is highly progressive rock with a lot of sensitivity, I have only high appreciation for them, writing this music in those early years of life . Although I have the cd version which contain some other material like ami lipner's remixes, which actually has no place in this release, I have to judge this one by more than only the cd version. The two main compositions are what we are gathered here for. Staggering performance by all, drums are accurate and are simply amazing, guitar is beautiful with some fiery solos around, bass is also stunning and keys are just perfect. The music is very melodic with some jazz elements mixed with rock, very interesting. Both compsositions flow from one part to the other easily like it was a 4 minutes song. although the sound is similar to YES they are no clone, I am amazed of how talented they are writing and performing this. this is my favourite israeli prog and it beats a lot of releases from other great bands around the world.

CD 1 also contain some live jamming which is not equaly good as the previous tracks, I think mainly because of the horrible sound, the first live track if it were recorded with the two main compositions it would have been equally good but the garage sound ruins the song, and the next one which is a blues track. nice overall.

CD 2 contain some live tracks, and another track done by the band 'Istopy' which is a different version of atmosphera, what a killer track that is!! it has an amazing climax, it starts with a slow scary atmosphere, great piano, killer keys join in with the rest of the band, it than return to the main theme with jazzy bass and drums and as the vocals turn more aggressive so does the rest of the band until it blows up to crazy aggressive bass and drums with good vocals. the audience didn't know what hit them!!

Things like that is hard to find in israel those days so i'm left only with admiration. even though this release is not constant due to bad recording and some live tracks, the studio tracks make up for it and worth the whole album alone.

I love it and i will give it 5 stars.

social review comments | Review Permalink
Posted Saturday, January 20, 2007 | Review this album | Report (Review #108141)

Atmosphera's sole album is essentially a love letter to Yes. Like Druid, Atmosphera produce new compositions following the pattern set by The Yes Album and Fragile, and perform in a manner directly inspired by their heroes - bassist Alon Nadel in particular seems particularly good at creating a big Chris Squire bass sound. Unfortunately, the fuzzy production values on this album prevents it from ascending to the heights that Druid attained. Ultimately there are so many bands out there following the lead set by Yes, and I can't say that Atmosphera represent a blindingly amazing example of this sort of thing; the lack of any compositions of the complexity of Yes' from Close to the Edge to Relayer only underlines the gulf between the inspiring masters and the inspired apprentices. One to pick up if you absolutely cannot get enough of bands who try to sound like early Yes.

social review comments | Review Permalink
Posted Tuesday, October 25, 2011 | Review this album | Report (Review #556831)

Hello Starcastle, Druid and other Yes derivative bands fans! This is surely for you!! I was amazed to find out that this Israeli group recorded this album in 1977. I mean, did anyone knew Israel had a prog band? And in thye 70´s? Yeah, I was amazed too. And they do play very well, by the way. The first two tracks are very much Yes unfluenced, vocalist Efrayim Barak emulating Jon Anderson so well one can only guess if he was not the man himself lending his voice to this group. The two other compositions that compromised the original LP are less Yes-like and more original, but they are also less interesting. While the perfomances are superb - guitarrist Moti Fonseka and drummer Ami Lipner are both specially skilled and creative - the production is understandable weak. The remastering for CD might have helped a little, but still is obvious those guys recorded under rather less than ideal conditions (the keyboards sound suffered the most). Still, they did a nice job.

This 2 CD version includes the whole original LP on the first disc, plus an alternative version of cuckoo. the second record has the video of the title track, two tunes from the LP recorded live, plus a few tracks from bands the members formed after Atmosphera broke up. This stuff is far more experimental and avant guard than their former outfit. Again it´s more interesting than really good.

Overall I liked the Lady Of Shalott work. It´s doubtless very symphonic and quite promising. Too bad they call it a day before developing some more. They surely have the chops and the talent to go a lot further than they did. Still, this CD is quite a find. It´s good to see that so many people were touched by prog music and tried hard to express their love for it everywhere.

Rating: 3.5 stars.

social review comments | Review Permalink
Posted Friday, June 8, 2012 | Review this album | Report (Review #767821)

i really dont understand people dissing this album just beacuse it sounded a bit like yes. every genre has its base. which in the prog music case its the mother bands such as yes king crimson etc. people take insperations from the roots. as you all know there are more then one band that their sou ... (read more)

Report this review (#2869760) | Posted by Shaxy | Thursday, December 22, 2022 | Review Permanlink

One of the most apparent clones of Yes even though coming from such unprog country such as Israel. All 5 musicians with with exception the keyboard player try hard to sound like classical Yes Lineup, the bass, drum players and the singer to be most successful clones. I don't mind any band not ... (read more)

Report this review (#2271299) | Posted by sgtpepper | Saturday, October 19, 2019 | Review Permanlink

Sounds like Yes. (I am only referring to disc 1.) Yes, it sounds like Yes, especially because of the typical high pitched voice and the Bruford-style drumming. The keyboards, with frequent use of chord breaking, sometimes sound more like Genesis than Yes. The guitar player proved he listened a ... (read more)

Report this review (#430261) | Posted by Formentera Lady | Sunday, April 10, 2011 | Review Permanlink

Atmosphera comes from Israel. Unfortunate, they only released this album. The last version comes as a 2 CD version. I only have the original album (CD 1) and it is that one I am reviewing. This is a very good birthday gift to any Yes fans out there. Both as a gift to yourself or someone ... (read more)

Report this review (#254266) | Posted by toroddfuglesteg | Friday, December 4, 2009 | Review Permanlink

One word review: WOW More than one word review: With my jaw hanging down so far and tears of joy over owning this pooring down onto my keyboard it is rather hard to type out how amazing this album sounds. This my friends is no YES clone, this could very well be a YES equal! Now I know how ... (read more)

Report this review (#207970) | Posted by manofmystery | Saturday, March 21, 2009 | Review Permanlink

Lady of Shalott is one of the highlights of Israeli prog, a very interesting album with some very high "ups" and minimal "downs"... Almost every moment is virtuoso playing, lush composing, ranging from minimalstic to bombastic... It's hard to say that every moment is musical genius, but near ... (read more)

Report this review (#83006) | Posted by TheLamb | Friday, July 7, 2006 | Review Permanlink

After years of searching for another band providing quality progressive music, as found in albums of King Crimson, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd (and a few other) - I've finally put my hands on this double album. No, I'm not saying it equals to any of the above, but this is as close as it gets, as ... (read more)

Report this review (#64403) | Posted by | Thursday, January 12, 2006 | Review Permanlink

Well here is an album which doesnt get much reviews... Atmosphera was an israeli band which never released its album at the time (1977) because of lack of interest in the record companies and the israeli public in general. Does it mean that the album is not good?? Actually far from it!!, the al ... (read more)

Report this review (#61057) | Posted by | Wednesday, December 21, 2005 | Review Permanlink

This is THE GROUP From Israël : The Best ... Lady Of Sharlott is a beautiful album ... Melody ... in the good of Genius Genesis ... this is a Prog Melodic Music ... This is recommended, as this is a Master-Piece of Music. Really Good music, this is strange of Israël with atmosphere Yes for ... (read more)

Report this review (#50386) | Posted by Mellotron93 | Friday, October 7, 2005 | Review Permanlink

This album probably reveals the Israeli Symphonic-Rock days at it's best. Consider the fact the band members were young then (16-17 years old), one of them showed that even he could be named "the middle-east's fastest guitarist" (Moti Fonseca). Their sound can be interpertated: the music tha ... (read more)

Report this review (#34234) | Posted by | Thursday, June 2, 2005 | Review Permanlink

Atmosphere is an old Israeli progressive rock band that doesn't exist anymore, however , it managed to be popular among the progressive rock fans in the late seventies and early eighties. Atmosphera used to play symphonic progressive rock like Yes. I believe that their entire CD is better than ... (read more)

Report this review (#34233) | Posted by Dan Yaron | Friday, May 27, 2005 | Review Permanlink

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).