TABERNAKEL

Arguably Jan Akkerman`s best solo project and the one with the most appeal for fans of seventies progressive rock with Akkerman in full classical modus operandi. Collaborating with American composer George Flynn and a full orchestra the album was released at a time when his band Focus was at the peak of it`s popularity and Akkerman was being praised by guitar freaks on both sides of the Atlantic.

The album begins marvelously with an updated version of John Dowland`s Britannia (that could very well be mistaken for a Focus piece) with orchestrations and a rock rythmn section being added to Akkerman`s Lute. Most of side one or the introductory part of the CD is taken up with Akkerman playing baroque lute pieces with no accompaniment. A flute-less upbeat version of Focus`House of the King appears on track 4 with Akkerman playing the flute parts on his Les Paul which is rigged up to sound like a sitar. Not as evocative as the Focus original but interesting nonetheless. The latter part gets into some experimentation, blending rock and classical stylings in the form of Javeh and Lammy which were co-written with George Flynn. Lammy is an extended piece in sevral movements with full orchestration and even includes a drum solo and sitar sounding guitar riffing which leads into a rock trio section with some fluid guitar soloing from Akkerman painting itself into some happier sounding guitar phrasings. It concludes with church-like proceedings with a choir and church organ.The piece seems to conceptually trace the lifetime of a tragic figure. Something like that anyway.

Suprerb album with Akkerman at his finest demonstrating his learned compositional and interprative prowess. Fans of Focus will not want to miss this gem. Re-issued on CD on Wounded Bird Records.