BURNIN' RED IVANHOE + W.W.W.

This two albums strike me as projects where you can listen to 2 diferent groups. One which sounds dated because of it's late 60's psychedelic style, while the other is completly compeling, avant garde and even jazz influenced (usually the instrumental pieces). So, for my taste this is a mix that somehow crashes and does not alway succeed. Thank god for the 'programe' button! Having said that, the parts that i like ARE wonderful and always point toward genius! And some of the more 'pop' songs have their charm. OK, but what do they sound like? Actually, they do not remind me of any group (a bit of Traffic, a bit of guru guru, a bit Secret Oyster and a bit Soft Machine but not really sounding like any of these!) Nice addition to collectors who fancy the groups mentioned.

Burnin' Red Ivanhoe + W.W.W. is a boxset that contains the second and the third album from Danish progressive jazz/ rock act Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe. Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe is probably the most prolific Danish progressive rock bands and definitely one of the most internationally known. Heavily rooted in the Danish jazz scene of the sixties Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe began incorporating blues rock, psychadelic rock and progressive ideas into their music which gave them their unique sound. The music is comparable to bands like Colosseum and Audience.

Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe:

The selftitled second Studio Album from Danish act Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe was released in 1970. The debut album from 1969 called M144 is a really excellent album and one of the most important Danish progressive releases. Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe even enjoyed some success in both UK, Germany and the rest of the Scandinavian countries which was ( and still is) very rare for a Danish band.

The music is bluesy jazz/ rock very much in the vein of bands like Colosseum and Audience. On this second album there is a much more dominant experimental jazz/ rock touch to songs like Canaltrip and Secret Oyster Service compared to the style on the debut, while the blues influence is clearly heard on Rotating Irons and Across the Windowsill. Near the Sea is a mellow song. Gong-Gong, The Elephant Song is also in experimental jazz/ rock territory with dominant brass work. The main theme reminds me a bit about The Mothers of Invention ( King Kong). There is also a harmonica solo in that song.

The musicianship is excellent. Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe was and still is one of the most accomplished bands in Denmark. The two brass players Kim Menzer and Karsten Vogel dominate the music but the vocals from Ole Fick which this time is solely sung in English are also really good. Jess Stæhr on bass and Bo Thrige Andersen on drums also makes for a really tight and excellent rythm section.

The production is excellent. Organic, pleasant and well sounding.

M144 stands for me as one of the most groundbreaking and important progressive releases in Danish music history and that´s pretty hard to compete with. Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe is a bit too much in experimental jazz/ rock territory for my taste. Not unlike Soft Machine really even though this album is much better than anything Soft Machine ever did after the first two albums. This is still a good album though and it deserves 3 stars IMO.

W.W.W.:

W.W.W. is the third studio album from Danish progressive jazz/ rock band Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe. I´m a big fan of the debut album called M144 from the band while the selftitled second album went too far into jazz territory for my taste. It´s still a good album though. With W.W.W. Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe returns to the more psychadelic leanings of the debut while still maintaining their jazzy edge.

The change in style compared to the predecessor is very obvious when listening to the first couple of songs on W.W.W. Karsten Vogel plays the organ instead of his characteristic sax on both the opener Second Floor, Croydon, the second song W.W.W. and the third song Avez-Vous Kaskelainen while Kim Menzer plays the flute rather than his usual sax. This change in intrumentation really gives those songs a different sound to the normally very sax dominated Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe we´re used to. The sax does return later on the album but never in the jazzy way it´s used on the predecessor. There are vocals on Second Floor, Croydon, All About All and Oblong Serenade while the rest of the songs are instrumental. My favorites here are Second Floor, Croydon and Oblong Serenade with it´s characteristic trombone theme. The only song I don´t enjoy much is the psychadelic organ dominated title track. It´s way too long and really isn´t very interesting.

The musicianship is excellent. On W.W.W. we really get to hear every facette of Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe´s sound from jazz/ Rock to psychadelic rock to more progressive moments like the ending of Second Floor, Croydon. The interplay between these musicians is magical IMO.

The production is really good and pleasant. Very organic just like the sound on the first two albums.

W.W.W. is a really good album and even though it´s not as challenging as it´s predecessor or as groundbreaking as the debut from Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe it´s a pretty unique album from the band. I´ll rate W.W.W. 3 BIG stars.

Conclusion:

Both Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe and W.W.W. are very worthy purchases and therefore this boxset is a great opertunity to get both albums for one albums price. I rated both individual albums 3 stars but as the idea of putting them out together is really great I´ll give this boxset 4 stars. Both albums were BIG 3 star ratings anyway.