When I saw this listed in Gonzo as a new release last year I was immediately intrigued as I remember Jack from Blodwyn Pig, while I knew that Rick Linden was a Dutch keyboard player. When I discovered that the album was originally released in 1979, and apart from drums (Barry Morgan from Blue Mink) and a choir, everything was played either on a Yamaha GX11S or a lyricon (electronic wind instrument that triggers patches), then I knew that I had to hear it. Just how far out and experimental would this be? In fact, the answer to that is not very, as although this was all cutting edge at the time, that is 35 years in the past. But, instead of something that is now breaking the boundaries of music what we actually have here is an excellent synth album that doesn’t really show it’s age at all.
This album is a sheer delight from start to end, with Rick and Jack in such harmony that often it isn’t possible to tell which one is playing where. It is multi-layered and definitely multi-faceted, and in many ways reminds me of some of Rick Wakeman’s lighter albums (lighter as opposed to his New Age works which are quite different again). It may only be 36 minutes long, but is of such quality that I am extremely surprised that they didn’t record any others together. Rick of course has had a long solo career, as well as being with the group Ekseption since the late Sixties, but this album is just so good I really wish that they had undertaken more together. As it is, all praise to Gonzo for making this available again as this certainly passed me by when it was released and it deserves far more than that.
www.gonzomultimedia.com
