MERCATOR PROJECTED

East Of Eden... Oriental and Western music with Bartok! That's why I approached East Of Eden. And, I admit, I had read of their lack of success was another reason that prompted me to buy this album. Uh... East of Eden are not commercial for musical concept? I do not think this is the cause of the lack of success. In fact, King Crimson were/ are even less commercial music style and have/ had less poetry in their music. In other words, in my opinion, the failure of East Of Eden to be found in the fact that Decca did not know how to do promotion for them, given the music hard to classify.

This album start with "Northern Hemisphere" that with "Isadora" is the track more conventional, more POP and more commercial. If you think that this is the soul of "Mercator Projected" you are outside of the road, because "Mercator Projected" is also "Centaur Woman" a song with great bass soli by Steve York, in a song that is close to King Crimson but with more Jazz in the veins and also more colours in the veins. Great is also "Bathers", an emotional ballad, with great atmosphere. "Communion", insipred by a Bartok string quartet, is another great song, not banal but extremely magical, because too atmospherical.

"Mercator Projected" is not an easy album for 1969 standard, a perfect mix between Oriental and Western music with Bartok, a mix from Family and King Crimson (for example more understandable) and in my opinion with good appeal. Today a winner groupfor Jazz music but in 1969 a great example of Early Prog. The production is not perfect but great for 1969 standards, all focused on making intelligible the musical chaos of the band. But we must not forget that where music is more POP oriented (and mean to trivialize) the poetic magic comes across. certainly because of the great imagination of the authors but also because of the great technique and sensibility of the musicians.

At the end: if you do not know East Of Eden and "Mercator Projected" you should definitely make you a copy of the album and start dreaming.