PORTABLE MADNESS

The music of Sensations' Fix is often compared to their fellow travelers on the Krautrock bandwagon, and with good reason: Florence, Italy (where the Fix made its base) is a lot closer to Germany than to Britain or America. But in truth the band never resembled anyone except themselves, practicing a unique style of cosmic rock still hard to pin down a generation later, despite the singular voice of Franco Falsini's guitar technique: impossible to mistake once heard.

The second credited Fix album was actually their first as a legitimate group, recorded on the crest of an unexpected record deal in 1974. Unlike the mostly solo research and development of "Fragments of Light" (released earlier the same year), this one sounds like a genuine collaboration, and is easily the band's most consistent, and strongest, effort.

'Strength' is a relative term, however. 1974 saw Progressive Rock approaching its apex of ambition (in albums like "Relayer" and "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway"), while Falsini and his trio were cloistered in a Florence basement, weaving their hand-crafted magic: space travel on a shoestring, but with a firm grip on the laces.

Other reviewers in these Archives have already analyzed each track, from the ominous opening groove of "Smooth and Round" (fading in as if the band had already been jamming for days) to the album's drifting, proto-ambient coda, enigmatically titled "With Relative Jump Into Water". Note the lack of actual songs, perhaps a key to the album's higher overall score here. And notice too the airtight ensemble discipline, without a single wasted note in evidence: a rare thing in progressive rock at the time.

A lot of the music here would reappear on subsequent Fix albums, often with added vocals or under different titles: anything to meet the contract obligations set by the clueless suits at Polydor Records. The company must have realized all too quickly that the insular, almost amateur nature of their new band was never going to light up the charts, or attract anything more than a cult fan base.

Which was fine by Mr. Falsini and crew. The guitarist would later sum up his entire (and still active) career in music with Zen-like modesty: "We can change the world without anyone noticing the difference."