GLASS TOP COFFIN

The engrossing history of RAMASES cries out for a cult film, and their first album was a near perfect exercise in simplistic pretentiousness. It took 4 years for a follow up, and much transpired in the interim. For one thing, HOT LEGS, the backing band, went on to form 10CC to chartbusting success. For another, Ramases marshalled his connections in several orchestras to dramatically alter his approach, which, while still descending from the clouds, possesses a lot more pop music savvy than I would have expected. In most every sense this is a more mature effort that sounds mostly like a different group, which I suppose it is, both in backing and in the multiple life altering shifts that must have occurred in the couple's psyche over nearly a half decade. But is it better?

The symphonic effect is apparent in most of the tracks here, from the buoyant opening 2 numbers reminding me of mid 1970s AMAZING BLONDEL and FUCHSIA respectively. Two peaks are achieved, the first being the chart ready "Now Mona Lisa" with brilliant backing vocals by Sel, the engrossing "God Voice", and RAMASES' best song "Mind Island", a ballad so breathtaking that it alone is worth the price of discovery. That theme was explored earlier by the original RENAISSANCE and KING CRIMSON, and later in the decade by the classic RENAISSANCE lineup in the sun-kissed "Kalynda". The second summit is in the trio "Stepping Stone", "Saler Man" and "Children of the Green Earth", which glance back a bit more at the debut but with considerably more intricacy. Only Sel's bland "Only the Loneliest Feeling" and the out of place funky title track flop here.

I'm a bit surprised that I don't find a lot of references to TOM RAPP and PEARLS BEFORE SWINE in other reviews I've seen, as the new Ramases is a ringer for Rapp both in terms of his voice and the string arrangements. I can't imagine that "The Use of Ashes" wasn't a big influence here. It's a homage well worth executing, more so this artfully. Speaking of success, this final release didn't even attain the modest recognition of the debut. Ramases took his own life about a year later, and some time after that a jealous second husband destroyed the unreleased original recordings that Sel had in her possession.

So yes this is better than the debut if the two can be compared at all, and is almost at 3.5 star level, affording an exquisite and less embarrassingly transparent view of pop folk psychedelia of its time.