SONG OF THE PTERODACTYL

This international conglomerate of global expats are back to record their second and final album--recorded and prodoced in Sweden at the Europa Film Studio--covering producer Wlodek Gulgowski and saxophonist Zbigniew Namyslowksi compositions (four each) only, this time, instead of imitating Tony Williams, they got Tony Williams--the real Tony Williams--to play on their album!

1. "Prehistoric Bird" (5:20) a Wlodek Gulgowski composition (which was also used on the next project Wlodek participated in, MICHAL URBANIAK's Fusion III). It's a great composition rendered here pretty well but the version on Michal's album is better (thanks in no small way to the vocal inputs of the one and only Urszula Dudziak). (9/10) 2. "Song of the Pterodactyl" (6:52) a Zbigniew Namyslowksi composition that has some nice/interesting chord and melodic progressions within/over which some odd synth, strings (guitar and electrified cello?), and get to insert their personal interpretations befitting the song's title (and theme). I very much like Tony's driving play in the third minute but then he feels as if he goes off topic--loses his interest or concentration--in the fourth and has trouble staying engaged thereafter (lending credibility to my theory that his drum parts were added later--played and recorded as he reacted in real time to the music on all of the other pre-recorded tracks). That's definitely an electrified cello (sounding like a Chinese erhu or the Japanese shamishen) in the seventh and eighth minutes. A weird song in which new, funk- and synth-developed sounds are attempted to be channeled as animal sounds. (13.125/15)

3. "High Priest" (5:39) a Wlodek Gulgowski composition that is very dynamic, very demanding, very impressive, and exceedingly-well performed. (9.3333/10)

4. "Dillema" (6:59) a Zbigniew Namyslowksi composition that contains a great bass performance from Mads Winding to go along with some amazing support from Wlodek's Fender Rhodes electric piano beneath . There's a smoothness to this one that predicts the Smooth Jazz and Yacht Rock stuff about to start coming out in the second half of the 70s. But, here it works fine. A few interesting (odd) sound engineering choices within the song (which, for me, indicate a rushed production process) but otherwise it's a pretty good song. (13.25/15)

5. "Watussi Dance" (4:46) a Wlodek Gulgowski composition opens with some unusually-effected clavinet and wah-wah rhythm guitar before funky bass and drums punctuates the rhtyhms from below. Zbigniew's heavily-effected sax takes the initial lead, giving the groove a little HEADHUNTERS/RUFUS/BILL COSBY sound and feel. A very pleasant and, yes, danceable modern funk tune. (9.125/10) 6. "Mammoth" (5:31) a Wlodek Gulgowski composition with a dreamy, gentle feel for the flute lead that sounds like it's derived or inspired by classical pieces. The soaring, flitting background flute "birds" are a neat effect, but then a shuffle at the end of the second minute ushers in a plodding low-end melodic theme that is obviously supposed to represent some behemothic creature (the mammoth). Janne Schaffer uses the entrance and demonic presence of this theme to start shredding on his guitar sounding as if a hunter/predator bird was trying to terrorize the lumbering quadruped. (This kind of reminds me of what Blue Öyster Cult was trying to do with "Godzilla" and Bondage Fruit with "T-Rex.") Janne is sure having fun tearing up the atmosphere around the poor pachyderm. (I just wish I liked his shredding style. It's kind of like Larry Coryell in that some of his sound and style choices for his guitar soloing are just too abrasive for me.) (8.875/10)

7. "Ozzy Bear" (5:49) a Zbigniew Namyslowksi composition that is rare for the lack of Zbigniew's sax (which shows absolutely no sign until 1:50). I guess it's his flute that presents the first melodies in tandem with Janne's guitar. Great engineering mix of the bass, Fender Rhodes and drum lines. (Here, for the first time, Tony's drums feels like he's actually with the band, not just punched in later.) Nice Fender Rhodes solo follows Zbigniew's solo then we return to the flute-and-guitar led motif that opened the song for the final minute. (8.875/10)

8. "Kuyaviak Goes Funky" (7:15) a Zbigniew Namyslowksi composition that was also covered for Wlodek Gulgowksi's next project, MICHAL URBANIAK's Fusion III. Heavily-muted and -effected sax and guitar precede some spacious keyboard and synth solo efforts. The sound palette throughout this song is just weird: everybody's instrument is being run through some kind of weird funk-(farm animal)-oriented/imitative series of effects and treatments and the song's (minimal and loose) repetitive and rather tedious foundation just serves to support the solos of the odd animals over the top. No thanks, not for me! (13/15)

Total Time: 49:11

Thank goodness for the fact of Janne Schaffer outgrowing his obsession with that awful heavy-distortion sound he used on the band's previous album. I do, however, fell as if the engineering and production are not quite as "spherically" perfect as it was on the previous year's release, Vol 1. For the most part Tony's drums feel distant, separate, as if he was recorded while playing along with the rest of the band's previously-recorded tracks (perhaps he was, in fact, recruited to replace a predecessor whose previously-recorded performance[s] was deemed less-than- satisfactory). At the same time, his extraordinary talents seem rather wasted (underutilized) on this album. Still, this is peak era Jazz-Rock Fusion of a very high quality, if a little more rag-tagged, rushed, or unpolished feeling.

B/four stars; an excellent if quirky collection of songs that attempt to use onomatopoeic sounds to create anthropomorphic sounds as if they're representing the animal world.

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