CATAPILLA

The line-up and song lengths look very promising at first sight. There surely must be plenty of ambition on this record! The female vocal is used sparsely, not surprisingly - there are more than enough instrumentalists. The sound by the band is quite typical for 1969-1970 so even a bit older than the album was released in. By its nature, the music is not as adventureous as one might expects, however there's plenty of improvisations especially by saxophone, clarinet and flutes. Jam is the right word to describe the nature of the lengthy songs. The rhythm section is actually quite rock/hard-rock oriented. The classic rock combo provides the harder edge without falling into virtuoso danger. "Naked death" is a good listen but not too memorable or developed. "Tumbleweed" reminds me a bit of later Curved Air. It is quite a melodic piece of straightforward rock. "Promises" is a hard jazz-rock number but I don't like screaming by the vocalist. "Embryonic fusion" takes more risks. It has a couple of section and motives but if it wasn't for the saxophones and clarinet, it would be a painful listen for 24 minutes. This album would have been better if the first and last trac were cut by half. Not much for the progger to explore but a good testimony of the jazz-rock/hard-rock beginnings.