...SIŁA I PIĘKNO MUZYKI TKWIĄ W JEJ RÓŻNORODNOŚCI


..::OPIS::..

Zremasterowana edycja wydanego w 1975 roku, rewelacyjnego debiutu amerykańskiej progresywnej formacji. To jest zdecydowanie jedna z najlepszych tego typu płyt nagranych poza Europą i prawdopodobnie najlepszy, progresywny album powstały w Stanach!

Na płycie znajdują się 4 nagrania (w tym zajmująca całą stronę B oryginalnego LP 19-minutowa suita) utrzymane w klimacie dokonań Genesis, Van Der Graaf Generator, Yes, King Crimson, ELP, Egg czy też Refugee! Mnóstwo Hammondów, melotrony oraz fajne brzmienia analogowych syntezatorów. To jest brytyjskie brzmienie circa 1973-74! Wydaje nam się, że każdy fan progresywnego rocka powinien posiadać ten album w swojej kolekcji i z całą pewnością będzie tą muzyką oczarowany! To jest granie z najwyższej półki!

Całość wyprodukował Ian McDonald z King Crimson. Doskonały dźwięk!



Superbly crafted 70's mellotron/moog laden progressive rock gem with great artistic expressionism and full instrumental interplay. "Night On Bald Mountain" was produced by KING CRIMSON's Ian McDonald who also contributes some sax on the album. Musicianship on this album is simply awesome with some of the most scrumptious interplay you have ever heard. Opening number 'Les Cathedrales' is absolutely in the same brilliance as early GENESIS with the most captivating and delicate of melodies. This five member band incorporate some wonderful musical instrumentation including xylophone, glockenspiel, chineese bell tree, gong, finger cymbals, tubular bells, triangle, hammond organ, pipe organ, celeste, mellotron, moog , Taurus pedals, and everyone's favourite... electronic devices. Vocals are quite well done with some great lyrics as well. "Night On Bald Mountain" contains 2 epic tracks and a couple of shorter but well pieced tracks. For those lucky enough to have snagged a copy of Setticlavio Record's (Italy) re-released CD pressing can also enjoy their second album as well... 7 extra bonus tracks from the album titled "Two Too" (1976)... although it is always nice to have this bonus material is ranks much lower IMHO than "Night On Bald Mountain" which is a great album and in my opinion an essential piece of Prog Land history !

Loserboy


Another one of those little-known American prog rock bands, I noticed this country's prog rock scene consisted of very few bands that actually made it big, only KANSAS did, because they included uniquely American elements in their European-influenced prog sound. Most of the other bands were unlucky, only having small, local or regional labels back them up (good examples go to acts like CATHEDRAL or BABYLON) or they had to privately issue the album themselves. There were a few that were lucky to get on major labels, giving them at least a small chance for national exposure like STARCASTLE (Epic Records), HAPPY THE MAN (Arista) or ETHOS (Capitol), but of course, you know how American radio was to prog in the second half of the '70s (not exactly the most friendly, and they'd prefer the most AOR stuff from KANSAS).
FIREBALLET at least had the decency to record for Passport Records, a small label that at least was able to distribute nationwide, and had quite a few great prog acts on its roster (ARTHUR BROWN'S KINGDOM COME, CAPABILITY BROWN, NEKTAR, SYNERGY, BRAND X, etc.). As for the rule of American prog (with a few exceptions, of course), most of these bands were either from the Midwest or the East Coast, and FIREBALLET was no exception, they hailed from New Jersey, which was also the home to Passport Records. "A Night On Bald Mountain" was their debut, and best known for being produced by Ian McDonald, who was previously a member of KING CRIMSON, and later a member of the multi-platinum selling AOR act FOREIGNER (a band that I don't need to explain to those who have even the slightest knowledge in FM rock).

The band consisted of drummer Jim Cuomo, keyboardist Bryan Howe, guitarist Ryche Chlanda, keyboardist Frank Petto, and bassist Martyn Biglin, all credited to vocal duties aside from the bassist, and Cuomo was the guy responsible for the lead vocals. His vocals tended to be on the dramatic side, and he had to try to imitate a European accent.

To me, I thought the album sounded like GENESIS or YES playing the Mussorgsky and Debussy songbook. In fact the title track, of course, is the band doing a version of Mussorgsky's famous work, but they also included some Debussy in there too. I kept hearing how this album is a Mellotron masterpiece. Don't buy in to that, the Mellotron is used nowhere as many claim, I mostly hear it on the short "Atmospheres", that's it, really. I more hear the RMI electric piano/harpsichord, ARP 2600, and Hammond organ. "Les Cathedrales" find the band borring a theme from George Martin's "Theme One" (the one VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR covered as a single they released in 1972, and included on the American LP of "Pawn Hearts"). "Centurion (Tales of the Fireball Kids)" is a prime example of Jim Cuomo being dramatic in his vocals. Somewhere you hear a theme from Holst's "The Planets". Of course the band went and tackled on Mussorgsky's famous work, stretching around 18 minutes, the title track is a prog version of that work, but near the end, the band seemed to abandoned rock and put emphasis on pipe organ and more classical structures.

Around this time, Passport Records started promoting the Sansui QS quad-stereo unit (you can see this promo also on Synergy's Electronic Realizations For Rock Orchestra), from my understanding you can only get quad stereo from these titles if you owned a Sansui quad (and also my understanding was that reel-to-reels were better at quad than LPs).

Unfortunately the only way you can get this on CD is through a Brazilian label called Rock Symphony which they also paired their second album Two, Too (which is usually regarded as not so good as their debut, but I hadn't heard that album). Passport Records went belly-up around 1988, making many titles difficult to get reissued if they weren't on other labels (BRAND X was on Charisma in the UK and NEKTAR was on BELLAPHON in Germany, so that's why those titles ended up on CD reissues).

To me, I think "A Night on Bald Mountain" is a decent enough prog album, but I wouldn't call it essential. I think my problem is I preferred the band when the classical influences aren't as so obvious.

Proghead



..::TRACK-LIST::..

1. Les Cathèdrales 10:18
2. Centurion (Tales Of Fireball Kids) 4:47
3. The Fireballet 5:19
4. Atmospheres 3:40
5. Night On Bald Mountain (Suite)
a-Night On Bald Mountain 2:20
b-Night-Tale 6:28
c-The Engulfed Cathedral 4:38
d-Night-Tale (Reprise) 2:34
e-Night On Bald Mountain (Finale) 2:50



..::OBSADA::..

Vocals, Drums, Timpani, Xylophone, Vibraphone, Glockenspiel, Bell Tree, Gong, Finger Cymbals, Bells [Tubular], Triangle - Jim Como
Organ [Hammond], Organ [Pipe], Celesta, Vocals - Bryan Howe
Piano, Electric Piano, Synthesizer, Mellotron, Vocals - Frank Petto
Bass, Guitar - Martyn Biglin
Electric Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Vocals - Ryche Chlanda




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLF4iSrsB1o



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