quinta-feira, 11 de agosto de 2011

Continuum - Autumn Grass (1971 Hungarian Prog Jazz Classic Rock)



ÓTIMA BANDA HUNGARA, CUJO IDEALIZADOR É "YOEL SCHWARCZ" QUE MUDOU-SE PARA AMSTERDAN E DEPOIS...BEM...O RESTANTE DA HISTÓRIA ESTÁ NA POSTAGEM ANTERIOR!! ESSE É O SEGUNDO ALBUM DA BANDA!! UM DOS LADOS DO DISCO CONSISTE EM TRÊS FAIXAS GRAVADAS AO VIVO E O TRABALHO DE ORGAN É DOMINANTE!! A MUSICA "VIVALDI SYNTHESIS" É UMA ÓTIMA ADAPTAÇÃO DE VIVALDI E QUE DEPOIS FOI REGRAVADA POR STEVE HOWE EM SEU PRIMEIRO ALBUM SOLO!! A SONORIDADE É BASICAMENTE IGUAL AO DO PRIMEIRO ALBUM COM A FLAUTA MARAVILHOSA DE "YOEL SCHWARCZ"!! VENENO RECOMENDADO E OBRIGATÓRIO PRA QUEM GOSTA DO ESTILO!!

"Autumn grass" is a criminally underrated album from the early 1970's, featuring jazz influenced prog played by four highly proficient musicians. The feature (title) track was at the time of the album's release one of the longest single tracks to appear on one side of an LP (but by no means the longest), running to some 26 minutes. The band was the brain-child of Yoel Schwarcz. Despite the fact that they only ever made two albums, he is the only person to be a band member for both (although the others who played on the first album appear as guests here) . The line up for "Autumn Grass" includes the highly proficient keyboard player Tim Rice (no relation to Andrew Lloyd-Webber's mate).

Side one consists of three tracks, all developed through live performances before being committed to vinyl. The opening "Byrd Pavan" is an improvisation on Byrd's "Earl of Salisbury pavan" combined with Purcell's "Air on a ground bass". The band add a jazz dimension to the Elizabethan flavoured "pavan", with the organ work of Rice being particularly dominant. "Vivaldi synthesis 2" is an adaptation of Vivaldi's "Guitar concerto", with synthesised strings backing. This pleasantly relaxing piece was later revived by Steve Howe on his "Steve Howe album". The final track on side one is "Overdraft", the only band composition on the album. This piece is the most jazz based of the four tracks, and also the weakest.

As mentioned previously, the inordinately long title track occupies side two. Composed by Patric Standford specifically for the band, the sleeve described the track as "a ritualistic invocation". Various guest musicians contribute to the suite, notably the Olympus Strings cello section. The highlight though is the wonderful flute of Yoel Schwarcz. About midway through the track, he picks out a baroque melody with sparse accompaniment. This theme is used as the basis for a developing improvisation with ever increasing backing driving the flute to a frantic crescendo, before the main theme restores order.


Yoel Schwarcz: Guitar, Flute, Harmonica, Saxophone
Tim Rice: Organ, Piano
Peter Billam: Bass & Electric Guitar
Harvey Troupe: Drums

01. Byrd Pavane /Hartley 9:30
02. Vivaldi Synthesis Two /Continuum, Hartley 2:28
03. Overdraft /Continuum 11:24
04. Autumn Grass /Patric Standford 27:15

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