MARSUPILAMI

Marsupilami is one of those bands from the early era of progressive rock that made great music. They were a British band but moved to The Netherlands to make their music. I don't know if they were influenced at all by the Dutch progressive bands of the late sixties, early seventies. But with the good Dutch progressive tradition, they also have a flute player. The music is at times heavy, with strong guitar solos. It is mainly organ / guitar based with some accents by flute and even harmonica (which is rather unusual in progressive music). The music is complex but can also be bluesy (like Born To be Free). At times it is a bit pretentious (as can be shown in the titles of the tracks). The musicianship is great and there are some interesting instrumental bits in the tracks. My favourite is Ab Initio Ad Finem (The Opera) with its spacey start, the melodic centre and the doomy ending. This is an amazing album.