Midnight Circus |
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dr wu23
Forum Senior Member Joined: August 22 2010 Location: Indiana Status: Offline Points: 20630 |
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Posted: July 27 2021 at 08:29 |
Decent prog folk with symph elements.....another obscure one. It's amazing that these lp's turn up that one has never heard of.
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One does nothing yet nothing is left undone.
Haquin |
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presdoug
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 24 2010 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 8649 |
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kenethlevine
Special Collaborator Prog-Folk Team Joined: December 06 2006 Location: New England Status: Offline Points: 8962 |
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I gave it 4 stars and this review The overall mood is ponderously pastoral, driven by strummed acoustic guitar, recorder, and at times soaring vocal harmonies. The opening track "The Light" encapsulates all of these qualities, with a mystical melody that successfully sidesteps cliches. "I Had a Dream" starts as a vivacious HOLLIES/KINKS mix before the tempo moderates dramatically and mellotron strings assert themselves. Ultimately, it's on the pulpit of "November Church" that MIDNIGHT CIRCUS stakes its claim to any notoriety beyond mere obscurity. Almost 9 minutes of Gothic bliss, it's a deranged Teutonic "California Dreamin", complete with morose choral parts, shrill trumpet, martial guitars and drums, and even a segment dedicated to the sermon of the month. Not quite a suite and not quite an epic, it's an exemplary piece of prog folk that is both adventurous and accessible. Other highlights include the ballad "Disappointed Love" that turns more aggressive in the breaks, and the Latin American inflected instrumental "Indian Impression". "Meditation" is another showcase for Christian Bollman's pulmonary prowess, presaging the work of artists like R CARLOS NAKAI by some years. Only "Mr Clown" and the two bonus tracks find the artists adopting hippy pop conventions, if you will. It's still gratifying to discover worthwhile artists from so long ago and to illuminate their names in neon if only for a proverbial quarter hour. While most everything on the original release hovers between 3 and 4 stars, I am going to round up for the preeminent "November Church", and also because this act manages to be both "out there" and balanced without really trying. |
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Shadowyzard
Forum Senior Member Joined: February 24 2020 Location: Davutlar Status: Offline Points: 4506 |
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I love their only album! So atmospheric. An obscure gem, for sure.
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presdoug
Forum Senior Member Joined: January 24 2010 Location: Canada Status: Offline Points: 8649 |
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Thought I would start a thread on the rather obscure German progressive folk duo from the 1970s-"Midnight Circus", who only put out one single in 1971 called "Coloured Gay/Get It" and a single, self-titled album on Bellaphon Records in 1972.
I discovered the band quite by accident, really, in my home of Canada where the band is unknown; a single stray used lp copy of their debut record in the late 1980s. Now, Progressive Folk is not a sub genre that I delve into in a big way, but Midnight Circus's sound is so infectious, well, I was sold on it the day I heard it. Very melodic but with progressive textures; the drumming on the debut album was taken up by none other than Dieter Dirks and Tommy Engel! There is a special atmosphere created by this group that I don''t find elsewhere, and they deserved a lot more attention than they garnered, but the band was pretty short-lived, so were obscured by time. I would love to hear from those of you that find Midnight Circus interesting.
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