FOR ALL THE CLOWNS

I first heard of Sahara from a website called Tommy's Forest of Progressive Rock back in 2000, the website was ran by someone named Tommy Schönenberg from Norway (I guess he was of German heritage, given the name, and the fact he used an ö rather than ø). The website was later renamed Vintageprog.com, and it's still available, unfortunately he hadn't updated it since 2008. It doesn't seem Tommy has much of a web presence these days, because he sure reviewed a ton of great albums you need to hear, although I found it strange he didn't include Pulsar's Pollen or anything else from Osanna other than Palepoli. But he did review all the Sahara albums, including the Subject Esq. album, but for some strange reason I never got a hold of anything from them, until now, probably due to tons of other obscurities there were taking higher priority. Not to mention it's not always easy to get a hold of this stuff. But I found an original LP of this, on the Ariola label for a decent price, and glad I did. This was their final album and it's rather obvious that they were taking on a more symphonic approach. The most catchy piece is the first one, "Flying Dancer", and I believe this was released as a single. Great piece, I notice some Gentle Giant influences. One of the keyboardists (there were two) gave quotes from Mussorgsky's "A Night on Bare Mountain". "The Source" is a bit in the Pink Floyd realm, and a short dissonant King Crimson-like passage, although the nasally vocals got me thinking of what Jane were about to do around this time period (Fire, Water, Earth, Air). The title track is nothing short of amazing, ditto for "The Mountain King". You'll notice more Pink Floyd influences, and strangely you'd expect Edvard Grieg to get quoted in "The Mountain King", but that didn't happen. This is basically yer typical Yes, Gentle Giant, Pink Floyd type of prog rock album. While some prefer Sunrise, some prefer this one due to being more consistent. It was their last album, but given prog rock was on the decline after this (disco was already starting to take hold in '75, and punk not too long after, as soon as the Ramones released their debut in the spring of '76). Nice prog, but it's not likely to make my top ten all-time favorites.