THE MARVEL WORLD OF ICARUS

A great addition to the Prog Archives and a real pleasure to be giving it it's debut review here. I must say though, where they got the jazz/fusion tag from is anyone's guess. The LP is actually pretty commercial sounding - more of that in moment, a bit of brief history first.

All members of Icarus were huge fans of Marvel Comics, hence the basic concept of this LP. As you can see from the track list, each title is based on a marvel character. Sadly at the time, the head of Marvel found out about this shortly before release and demanded a 50% share of the royalties. Instead of giving in, the record company simply withdrew the LP. Several copies of the originals slipped out of course. I'm glad to say one of these slipped and found it's way into my record collection, where it will be staying. Like most rarities of this nature, it has been re-issued. Not sure if Marvel are getting their cut this time round though. I'm sure they're making enough from the recent spate of films.

Anyway the music: As said before, pretty commercial sounding. No lengthy or wild instrumental passages at all here. What makes this one stand out is the sheer variety of compositions and brilliant songwriting. Tracks like 'Fantastic Four' and 'Thor' are pretty bluesy, 'Iron Man' veers into a Psych territory and 'Madam Masque' is a beautiful ballad. Due to the nature of the concept, it is simply great fun to listen to. All musicians are competant and the singer has a great voice.

As a result of the withdrawn LP, the band split. Yet another of these one album wonders. As usual leaving me thinking, imagine if they'd made more, we'll never know. Well worth a purchase!

PS - Fact - As read a few years ago in a reputable music mag, this band were the first to play in Romania. Apparently they went down a storm!