DIVERGENCE

3.5 stars really!!!

Second album from this group, now reduced to a quartet, having lost their percussionist Steve Boston who went un-replaced,, but more importantly they lost singer/bassist VDSande, but they managed to find Guus Willemse for both tasks. This changed the sound quite a bit, although remaining jazz-rock, but a lot more sung, and somehow having a reduced musical spectrum over their debut album. Recorded in 72, released on Harvest this time and again produced by the same Schuursma, the album sports a picture of a strange modern sculpture, most likely unrelated to the title or the album's content, six tracks, with one serving as an intro.

The opening almost 9-mins Second Line starts out as déjà-entendu, both in VdSande's vocal line and delivery (he sounds like Boston's vocalist Boudreau) as well as the song's general sound (the Secret Oyster resemblance is more evident on this second album). The shorter title track reminds me of a cross between Colosseum and Secret Oyster as If Knudsen (SO) had met Heckstall-Smith (Col) and you'd have a hard time believing Focus didn't listen to this album after hearing Fever's flute.

The lengthy Concentration opens the flipside with plenty of interplay between all four members, especially again between Barlage and Ennes , the latter even winking at McCoy Tyner once or twice, just before or after the former played homage to Trane. Theme is more of an intro to New Dimension, probably the most future-AOR and cheesiest track of the album and not the best way to end an album.

Solution will than take a break to fill military duty, but their next album Cordon Bleu is from 76 with a complete line-up overhaul and the music changing to a certain kind brass-rock and gaining more attention. But for this second album, I'd say it' has lost the debut's spark, but is a more even and maybe jazzier affair, but it's definitely still worth investigating.

This is excellent & accessible Netherlandish fusion with expressive lead vocals. There is an omnipresent melodic and rhythmic piano; the other involved keyboards are mainly an often very distorted dirty organ, electric piano mainly with a VERY dirty effect, and wah-wah dirty moog like on the Camel's "Moonmadness" album. There are excellent lively sax melodies. The saxes are sometimes absolutely extreme and very intense, like at the end of the "Divergence" track, reminding the ones at the end of Pink Floyd's "Shine on your crazy diamond part 1". The bass is very loud and bottom, especially on the "Concentration" track. There are a couples of psychedelic or spacy parts, like the drowned effect on the piano of "Second line" or the minimal keyboards a la Tangerine Dream's "Alpha Centauri" on the intro of "Fever". Hans Waterman's drums are very varied, complex and refined, as always. There are some very good flute parts. The "Divergence" track was replayed by Focus, on their "Eruption" track. The excellent flute on "Fever" sounds like the one on the early Focus' albums, and the dirty piano reaches a very short wah-wah EXTREME INTENSITY! The too short "Theme" is a peaceful and graceful flute interlude, a sort of acoustic reprise of the main theme on "Concentration". "New dimension" is probably the most accessible one, with its catchy rhythmic piano & lead vocals plus its tender saxes quite played in the background; have you noticed the constant dirty organ line in the background? Compared to the next "Cordon Bleu" album, released 4 years later, this record sounds really vintage; however, this record should proudly be in any reasonable 1971 top prog/fusion list.

Rating: 4.5 stars

I can't help but feel that this album is a step down from Solution's very capable debut, what with the first track - Second Line - starting out as an Elton John-esque piano ballad! It soon takes a different direction though - as the album title suggests, most of the songs are based around the idea of beginning with one approach and them zooming off on a tangent - but even the more progressive parts of this album seem a bit tame. The jazz fusion is tepid and unconvincing, the Soft Machine references are mechanical and lack verve, and in general the album never quite manages to fully come alive. Most of the musical ideas on here had already become old hat in the progressive scene by the time it came out, and on the whole the band seem to be playing it safe rather than challenging themselves. A disappointment.

Well I tend to agree with Hugues rating here. After the excellent debut the band lost their bass / singer and also the percussionist. So enter a new bass player who also sings but i'm not a big fan of his vocals. More importantly as others have mentioned the opeing track is too commercial sounding. Of course there is lots to like here but I do find this one pales when compared to their debut.

"Second Line" reminds me of Lionel Ritchie's "Easy Like Sunday Morning" for some reason. The vocals and piano i'm thinking. Now they had changed labels prior to this release so maybe a poppy tune was encouraged by EMI. Anyway this really is like getting off on the wrong foot. Piano and a beat leads early then the vocals join in. We get a relaxed sax solo before 3 minutes that lasts for a minute. "Divergence" has some nasty organ and drums to start then smooth sax takes over with bass and a beat. The organ is back as contrasts continue. Some dissonant sax late. "Fever" is much better with those sparse sounds early then flute before 2 1/2 minutes before it kicks in after 3 minutes. Good tune.

"Concentration" has a nice intro then it settles with a beat, sax and organ. Prominant bass 2 1/2 minutes in followed by vocals. This is kind of bluesy. The sax replaces the vocals 4 1/2 minutes in then the vocals return. They stop again as the tempo picks up. Great section from 6 1/2 minutes to the end. Excellent track. "Theme" is a short flute piece. "New Dimension" has a beat, piano and vocals. Sax comes and goes. It's okay.

A little inconsistant for my tastes but I know many who are big fans of this one. Thanks Doug !

With new Bassist/Vocalist Gus Willems replacing Peter Van Der Sande, Solution took a slightly different approach to the follow up to their excellent debut `Solution'. The vocals are more prominent, but the sound of the band overall is consistent with the debut and is again excellently recorded (and at the same studio). There are fuzz organ tones reminiscent of Hugh Banton's work with Van Der Graaf, and some pleasing melodic Flute work from Tom Barlage on the opening track `Second Line', which also reminds the listener of some of David Jackson's less intense work.

Then...a wonderful surprise with the title track `Divergence' which will need no introduction for fans of Focus's landmark `Eruption' suite. Focus liked the piece so much when sharing stages with Solution that they rechristened it `Tommy' after Tom Barlage and recorded their own version. This version uses Sax as its lead instrument and is a wonderful example of the cross fertilization that seemed to be so much a part of the music scene in the golden age.

`Fever' uses a Herbie Mann flute theme as the basis for some breezy improvisation with a sunny disposition, whilst the next piece `Concentration' sees the return of Willems' very capable vocals alongside some dreamy saxophone and mid paced grooving from the band. It seems that Soft Machine's `Third' was required listening for many musicians of the era, and the latter half of the track explodes into a homage to one of the famous 7/4 riffs from that album.

`Theme' sees the soul influences rise to the surface of the melting pot and is never less than pleasing, although it makes for a somewhat anti-climactic finish to the album. On the whole this collection is slightly less impressive than the debut, but nevertheless makes an excellent companion to it. (Three and a half stars)

The Dutch band SOLUTION was formed back in 1966, and in a career that lasted until 1983 they explored quite a few different types of music prior to calling it a day. Their most interesting productions from a progressive rock point of view have generally been subscribed to their self-titled debut from 1971 and the following year's production "Divergence". Both albums have been unavailable for a number of years now, until the UK label Esoteric Recordings decided to reissue them on CD in the fall of 2012 ? as usual from this fine label, complete with a nice and good quality digital remastering.

Solution's second outing "Divergence" sees the band replacing the eclectic, innovative excursions on their debut with a smoother variety of jazz rock. Competent and accomplished musicians add a number of refined, subtle details to the proceedings to elevate it above the plain and ordinary, and occasionally the band showcases an inclination towards a more experimental expression. But by and large this disc appears to have the jazz rock crowd as its key audience, and in particular the section of it that doesn't mind an occasional flirt with mainstream oriented music.

I really love their debut album, but what on earth were they doing here? "Second Line" to my ears sounds like the band ditched all their jazz rock for generic soft rock, complete with vocals that sound like (if it weren't for the accent) it could have been any run-of-the-mill American soft rock act. But then the instrumental part of this piece is next, and it almost sounded like it was spliced from a different band's recording, because it's more in the familiar jazz-rock territory. The title track is familiar to every Focus fan, as they recorded a version of it off their Moving Waves album, as part of the "Eruption" suite, but was entitled "Tommy" there. But Focus actually recorded it first, although Tom Barlage is credited to it, and I'm certain Solution did perform this piece before the album Divergence ever came out (probably around the time of their debut). The next couple pieces are luckily in the jazzy prog department, where the vocals on "Concentration" do work better here, but plenty of instrumental passages. "New Dimension" is another vocal-dominated piece, and again, I really don't care for this piece. To me, this is a rather uneven album, and I've heard some of their later stuff, which sounds too close to lite jazz-rock to my liking. Personally I find their debut the better album.

In 1972 Solution moved from the Catfish label to Harvest and introduced new bassist Guus Willemse in the place of Peter van der Sande, the same Guus Willemse who played bass on Light's sole album ''The story of Moses''.The new album ''Divergence'' was released in 1972 in Holland and Germany, while EMI distributed it in UK.

The uneven sound of the long opener ''Second line'' sums up the story around ''Divergence''.Soulless vocal Jazz/Pop mixed with fiery, almost Canterbur-ian Prog Fusion, full of sweet melodies and blasting interplays.The title-track is more of the same: Sax-driven syrupy melodies meet dense, GENTLE GIANT-like Prog Rock along with soft jazzy interludes.''Fever'' is a suprising instrumental piece of Space/Fusion with dreamy flute lines and atmospheric electric piano to close nicely the opening side of the LP.The flipside is centered around the 13-min. Jazz Rock of ''Concentration'', another example of Solution's endless talent and questionable composing ability at the time.The first part offers a delicate Jazz Rock with Pop and Soul sensibilities, which is decent musically, but the vocals are extremely commercial and dull.The following second part is miles better, all instrumental, groovy Prog/Jazz Rock with bizarre sax breaks and solos and very good electric piano and synths textures, delivered in a semi-loose style.The very short flute-intro of ''Themes'' leads to the farewell track ''New dimension'', which is vocal-driven Jazz Rock with nice sax and flute lines and some psychedelic influences around.

At its more complex parts ''Divergence'' is absolutely on par with Solution's debut.However the mass of easy-listening tunes contained makes this a weaker album overall, but still recommended, as the great moments in it range from great to mind-blowing.