FUSIOON

Companion suite and title cut 'Minorisa' is more bellicose and energetic, has distant cathedral bells overlaid with Arisa's rising military drums, strange and unexpected shifts, neat mellotronics, and synthed-up Clockwork Orange Mozart from guitarist Brunet. A lot of fun, and though parts 1 & 2 of 'Llaves del Subconsciente' are more like superfluous afterthoughts they do heat-up if left to simmer. Satisfying old fashioned prog from more than competent players.

Pros:

Unfathomably talented musicians playing everything from Canterbury inspired jazz rock to lush grandiose symphonic prog.

Eclecticism.....and then some! Just around the upcoming corner a new and altogether different melody lies in wait. Fresh time signatures kindly handed over to the listener by what must be one of the most breathtaking rhythm sections I've come across in recent years. If I didn't know any better, I'd say it was a close cousin to the one on offer in the French purveyors of teutonic fusion, Magma. More than once during this album, I'm reminded of Jannick Top's boisterous bass booms as well as Vander's energetic tom work.........so close and still soooooo far away.

The electronics. Now many have described these as sounding particularly close to those of Tangerine Dream, and I couldn't disagree more. What you get with the electronics on Minorisa is an entirely unique kind of progressive electronic that is as adventurous and sharp in expression as a robotic shark swimming through myriads of small Lego soldiers. This somewhat strange facet does only show itself during the last cut, but you are most likely going to catch it - that is if your ears aren't made of seaweed and old Volvo parts.

Pomp and gusto! Oh yeah baby! There are some fantastic sections spread out during this album that'll cater to even the pickiest of prog afficionados. Be that the ending mellotron breezes of Ebusus that waft overhead you like diamond dust specks caught on the air, the sporadic ELP like moog flourishes or the overt shapeshifts that take place every once in a while, - if you're a proghead, then there's surely something to your liking on Minorisa.

Cons:

The musicians are so good that they tend to forget about the music. The first cut Ebusus takes so many strange and unforeseeable turns during it's 19 minutes, that you're in real danger of going numb or confused during it's first leg. A lot of this album feels like a project - a challenge. How many different and seemingly unrelated pieces of music can we string together in order to make a grand whole? As a result of this, I get irritated when those beautiful and powerful sections suddenly come to a hault, by the flick of the switch, and then run galloping in the other direction - now sporting an entirely different tune on it's lips.

Bewilderment........and not the good stuff. People who know me well will probably also know about my affinity for getting lost...and preferably stay there for a bit. I think it's healthy and it teaches you about the dark alleyways of life - all the stuff you often overlook for the in-your-face experiences that often only last the time they appear. On Minorisa though, there's a bewilderment on offer that doesn't take me places. It doesn't make me deliriously happy about the fact that we just went from a hundred miles an hour Canterbury inspired fusion to a warped version of Emerson fondling up his keyboard. It just confuses me, and that's actually pretty hard to do. I work with children and am often in charge of some 50 kids all on my own - each of em jumping and screaming for my attention. Yet that' s just fine with me, and I keep my cool.......Minorisa then manages to trump 50 kids on sugar and an incessant 'love-me' trip.

Electronics.....yep those were indeed also part of the cons, but here I am not referring to the last deranged de-constructed piece of prog electronic. No here I'm talking about the slap dash synths that ever so often pop up during the music, either to embellish on already existing atmospheres or to kick your arse with an earthshaking solo taken straight out of the ol ELP cookbook. The problem is not how they're played though, it's the sound. Damn..........I keep getting these mad images of a longhaired Spaniard trying his best to be virtuosi on Casio keyboards and other such Toys r Us instruments. I can't help it, but they sound so synthetic and plastic like. Often when I'm supposed to be experiencing Goosebump's City with soul orgasm and shivers alike, I get a smirk on my face and start laughing in short uncontrollable bursts.

So there you have it. Fusioon's third album Minorisa is just about the most confusing album I know of. It's very good at times - heck it is even wonderful during some sections, but then again it is also unbelievably irritating. If you can imagine the musical aesthetics of Gentle Giant transcribed onto ELP and Egg, then you're not that far off, and even making that comparison doesn't give them the full credit they deserve, because what this band has going for it, and has in spades, is uniqueness. You certainly won't find anything out there that sounds remotely close to this album.....for better or worse.

"Farsa Del Buen Viver" brings that GG vibe to the fore right away. You'd think they were covering one of their songs, but they aren't. Even the vocal style is similar. Catchy stuff though. "Contraste" opens with percussion, piano and vocal melodies as the synths join in. It settles before 2 1/2 minutes then picks back up. A calm 4 minutes in and even here GENTLE GIANT comes to mind. It picks up again. "Tritons" opens with some nice drum work as GG comes to mind again. Impressive keyboards follow. A calm 3 minutes in then the organ comes in as it builds. Vocal melodies 8 minutes in to end it.

"Dialogos" has these intricate sounds with no melody really but that changes when it picks up and the vocals arrive. This is catchy with a GG flavour. "Concerto Grosso" is the almost 10 minute closing track. More GG styled music and the vocals come in after 3 1/2 minutes. A calm follows with fragile vocals. The piano replaces the vocals before 6 minutes but the vocals are back quickly then it picks up. This sounds better 8 minutes in.

Like the debut this is a good album but i'd go for their third record if I were you.

Don't get fooled by the band's name, ironically when the vast majority of 70's catalan prog was jazz-rock/fusion, Fusioon was one of the bands with lesser of it. Well more precisely both their eponymous debut and their last album Minorisa do have some fusion, but this one Fusioon 2 (nicknamed "Crocodile" to differentiate it from the debut) has little if any, instead being a delightful combination of Eclectic, Symphonic and Canterbury.

We can find two main broad styles, the tracks with vocals (sung in spanish) Farsa Del Buen Vivir and Dialogos sound very Gentle Giant, with intriguing harmonies that achieve that delicate balance between orthodox melody-harmony and dissonance. On the other hand the instrumental tracks Contraste and Tritons retain some GG flavour but can also remind of Egg, The Nice or Soft Machine, even King Crimson sometimes.

The 10 min last track Concerto Grosso has a few vocals but is mostly instrumental and combines both broad styles, fusing all the aforementioned influences over a more symphonic, nearly classical song structure as the title suggests.

Instrumentally the focus is on the fantastic keyboards work by Manel Camp, combining classical influences with aggressive soloing, and the drumming of Santi Arisa being also very good, these guys were among the finest musicians of the catalan scene in the 70's. But what I really love is the compositions, they are musically challenging and competent and perfectly reflect that kind of genuine, unadulterated prog inspiration which flourished in the first half of the 70's.

Many consider their third and last album Minorisa their best but although that one is also excellent and probably more technically elaborated, personally I prefer "Crocodile", it is more eclectic and does not have excessively experimental sections as Minorisa does. The best album by one of the best spanish prog bands of the 70's, so you can be sure it's damn good. 4.5 stars but it falls a bit short of the best ever masterpieces so round down to 4.

This 1972 debut consists only of adaptations to jazz-rock-fusion of traditional spanish popular songs (a couple of them actually adaptations from late 19th / early 20th century spanish classical composers, La Danza Del Molinero by Manuel De Falla and Negra Sombra by Xoan Montes). Being catalan I recognize most of the tunes, but the adaptations are so free that they hardly bear any resemblance to the originals except for some phrases here and there bringing up the original melodies and some of the original backing chord progressions transposed onto jazzy rythms on which they play their solos and improvisations.

The album is totally instrumental, very good fusion with classical flavour, with quite a lot of piano (organ, synths and mellotron not lacking either) and great musicianship all around. The songs are all short between 3 and 5 minutes which makes the album flow swiftly. There are saxes and flute too making the music more diverse.

But in this debut they do not use their musicianship for showing off and they are not too adventurous, no pyrotechnics, no agressive nor stunning music. As good as it is, it feels a bit like just "innocent jazz-rock", the songs feel rather simple and it's in the details where you realise their quality.

In their next two albums Fusioon would truly unleash their talent and challenging spirit and venture into top-level eclectic-symphonic-fusion prog (in Fusioon II) and back to fusion- symphonic-experimental but at a vastly more sofisticated level (in their last album Minorisa).

A certainly interesting and nice-to-have album, but only after you have discovered their next two masterpieces.

"Ebusus" is led by keyboards and drums early followed by bass and mellotron after a minute. Amazing stuff ! Mono-toned vocals 2 1/2 minutes in as the wind blows. It's heavier and darker before 4 minutes.This is so good. Prominant drumming after 5 minutes then some brief fast paced vocals. It's catchy with piano before 7 minutes with chunky bass as drums continue. Fast paced vocals are back before 8 1/2 minutes then a change before 9 minutes as it calms right down with mellotron. I'm reminded of AREA 10 minutes in then we get another calm before 12 1/2 minutes with mellotron. It kicks back in before 15 minutes and vocals follow. Mellotron 18 minutes in. Great song !

"Minorisa" opens with spacey synths and atmosphere. Mellotron joins in. Drums and piano take over before a minute then the synths return.The tempo changes often on this one. Church bells after 5 minutes then some heaviness with mellotron takes over. Synths and drums lead late. "Llaves Del Subconsciente" opens with mellotron then these strange and experimental sounds follow. Part II of this tune is very much an electronic soundscape that Klause Schulze would be proud of i'm sure.

No doubt a classic from Spain that the adventerous listener will eat up.