MIDNIGHT SUN

On the ashes of famous danish psychadelic rockers Young Flowers guitarist Peer Frost Johansson ( Later of Peter Belli & Les Rivals, Sebastian & Skousen & Ingemann. Today he plays with the famous danish band Savage Rose) formed Rainbow Band. This name was already taken though and after releasing the debut album Rainbow Band would change name to Midnight Sun and re-record the Rainbow Band debut with new singer Allan Mortensen.

I haven´t heard the original Rainbow Band album so I can´t compare the two but Midnight Sun is a pretty good album with influences from both blues, jazz/ Fusion and a bit of psychadelic music. The songs are actually pretty diverse. The songs with most wind playing from Bent Hasselmann reminds me a bit of the early albums from the english band Audience, while other songs like King of the Sun starts out more sixties rocking and then while the guitar plays solo the song almost shifts to fusion territory. There is a strong soul influence here too, which is mostly due to Allan Mortensen´s soul/ rock vocals.

The musicianship is what I´m most impressed by when listening to Midnight Sun. Peer Frost Johansson is a really great guitarist who is obviously inspired by sixties guitarists like Jimi Hendrix and Eric Clapton. He delivers some really fiery soloing on some of the songs. The rythm section is really strong too and Drummer Carsten Smedegaard and bassist Bo Stief are really tight. Singer Allan Mortensen is a soul/ rock singer and a strong one IMO. The band is completed by Niels Bronstad on piano and Bent Hasselmann on Winds.

The production is excellent for the time. A real treat.

I think this album is really good and I enjoy listening to the songs once in a while, but frankly this isn´t my favorite style and even though the music is really well produced and performed I only feel this is a 3 star album. I really hope there are others who can appreciate this music more than me though, because there are lots of good things going on and I think this album deserves more attention than it has gotten so far on Prog Archives. Fans of Audience should take a listen.