FANTASY OF HORSES

This is an odd duck to say the least. For those into orchestral or opera will be turned off by the guitar, bass and drums. Those into Rock are turned off by the male operatic vocals and horn section. So yes us Progressive music fans are the ones who seem to appreciate this album the most. Even then as I noticed on many different sites there is a love or a hate towards this album. Not a lot of people inbetween. Well I think that's really where this belongs, right in the middle. Not that it's an average album but when you combine such different styles you aren't going to please everyone. I honestly can't stand the operatic male vocals. Take them away and this is 4 stars for me. Hard to ignore them of course. On the other hand this band has a fantastic rhythm section, and as an added bonus there's lots of mellotron.The sticker on the back of my cd says "Australian progressive jazz masterpiece from 1976". Unfortunately it's neither.

"Rebecca" opens with mellotron before drums and horns join in. Bass and sax lead for a while. Bass and intricate guitar sound good 2 1/2 minutes in. This is an uptempo instrumental that's okay. "Dancer" opens solemnly and vocals come in for the first time after a minute. A fuller sound a minute later then the tempo picks up around 3 minutes. The drumming is outstanding here. Guitar after 4 1/2 minutes. A change before 6 minutes as mellotron then vocals take over. It picks up around 9 1/2 minutes as the vocals stop. Mellotron and horns are back. "Caption For The City Night Life" opens with drums and bass as the horns honk. Nice bass before 2 minutes. Check out the drumming a minute later.

"Fantasy Of Horses" opens with piano as those operatic vocals join in. Horns before 2 minutes as it changes. More great bass and drum work follow. Organ before the vocals return around 4 1/2 minutes. A spacey calm 6 minutes in. Vocals and piano are back 7 minutes in. Vocals stop again. Mellotron 9 minutes in then the horns start to lead. Vocals 11 minutes in with lots of mellotron. Horns and drums are back. Huge bass follows. The string section comes in before 14 minutes. Vocals with mellotron ends it.

A unique album that deserves to be checked out. Many consider this to be a masterpiece and that alone makes this worth investigating. 3 stars.