THE MARVEL WORLD OF ICARUS

Step into the world of Superhero lunacy

Being a huge Marvel fan I had to check out this oddity from the early 70s by Icarus. It certainly did not disappoint and gets better as it goes along. It begins with strange chanting and chaotic jazzy time sigs and then progresses onto some inspired flute work especially notable on 'Fantastic Four' and 'Conan The Barbarian'. I love the psychedelic flavours on Thor that even becomes a blues rendition towards the end.

The lyrics are downright cheesy but non compromising as to the content. This could easily work as a soundtrack to Marvel comics, and of course it was a lawsuit waiting to happen, the band being slapped on the wrist for using the coveted superheroes. The album is a fun romp and never takes itself seriously but has some seriously brilliant musicianship. The saxophone solo in Thor is dynamic for instance.

'Black Panther' is rather a slinky thing like the super hero herself, and there is a great flute solo and jazzy vibe with lyrics such as, "watch out for the panther now!" and it carries on about the white man and the black man, in true 70s style.

'The Man Without Fear' features a cool rocking beat, and crazy lyrics, "he's the one they call the man without fear, when all the fight is over he's thinking of his lover only, wishing that he could see her, wanting to be just near her only, but he must hide his sorrow for he knows that tomorrow, lonely, for he must hide his sadness and fight the human madness." The flute solo follows again and it is as good as Ian Anderson. This is groovy and worth a listen.

'Silver Surfer' is a sheer psychedelic composition with phased vocals and a rather melancholy atmosphere. The musical swirls are real freak out. Lyrics are very cool, "Nothing can stop your cosmic power, even the super humans cower, Oh Silver Surfer, ride, ride, ride the sky." You have to admire the approach of this band who have decided to pay homage to Marvel without flinching in their tenacity.

'Things Thing' is a short thing. It kind of boogies along steadily like 12 bar blues with some raspy vocals, and the scorching sax solo is backed by wonderful tom toms. Some lyrics, "Deceiving so unbelieving" is all I can make out.

'Captain America' is a rocking loud blaster with some quirky lyrics, "who's the saviour of the nation?" and the flute solo once again similar to Jethro Tull style.

I have to say this is a real blast from the past that deserves recognition with a fresh approach and fun content. Perhaps it should be played in the background at comic conventions. Marvel should have looked at this as a wonderful advertisement for their product rather than demanding 50% of profits. The record was withdrawn and hardly saw the light of day, but hopefully now it will have some impact.

The late 1960´s produced some of the most groovy and interesting pieces of jazz-rock. The melting and fusion of jazz and rock results in a blend of extremely delicious chops and music. Blood, Sweat & Tears, Chase, Chicago and several other bands really took the development of rock music several steps further. This was, of course, before the jazz- rock/fusion side of music turned into the severely slick fusion of the later 1970's. The slick side of things is not my cup of tea. The grittier, dirtier and harder rocking sort is more in line with my taste.

So, having established my love of jazz-rock, I now proclaim the immense impact the world of Marvel had on my childhood. Batman and the Hulk was always my favorites among the superheroes but the all filled up my imagination, back then. I guess that is why I have always had a soft spot for this, the only album, by the british jazz-rock outfit Icarus.

Jazz-rock and the superheroes of Marvel. Now that's a great way to start off the day. It must be. The cover suggests a whole lot, as does the mythical status of this album. Severely affected by Marvel wanting 50% of the sales and the record company's (Pye, that is) decision to withdraw the whole thing because of that, crippled the band and left them without an album to promote. The reviews of the time were not raving either, so in hindsight the band struggled.

The musical content, apart from the great cover and mythical mumbo jumbo surrounding the album, is, however, not all that it is cracked up to be. There are great moments and there's good ones but the album is really not that brilliant or fantastic. The musicianship is nigh on perfect but the material is in itself mostly alright. The lyrical content is entertaining and fun, which makes this listenable.

Though the songs have slightly differing styles, the overall feeling is one of more or less similar tracks. There are really no fantastic stand-outs. The ballad "Madame Masque" is really on of the more recognisable ones, due to it's mellowness. Most of the tracks are harsh jazz-rock, performed with great intensity. "Conan - The barbarian", "The Hulk" and "Black Panther" are among the best tracks of the lot.

When listening to this album I dig the music. It is groovy and great but it is not among the greater albums of the genre. It is sort of a novelty act. Fun and entertaining, not bad at all but not brilliant either. The only album Icarus made is primarily, I think, known for it's obscure nature and lyrical themes, rather than the music on the vinyl. I would not really recommend this album if approached with the oppurtunity to promote the jazz-rock record of all time. It would not even end up in the Top 10. That does not mean you shouldn't give this album a go. It is fun, entertaining, groovy and certainly an interesting piece of a time and musical landscape long gone. I cherish my CD edition and play it every once in a while. It is, like I have said often enough in this review, great fun and full of good though not outstanding music.

a very unique and excellent prog music ..

Well, yeah ... the first time I heard the music I kept laughing at it as the music turned out to be unique and it's something that was very hard for me to describe. It's my bad habit tend to categorize music into genre or subgenre that sometimes make me difficult to classify and at the end, especially with this release, I gave up categorizing it ....as music is played to enjoy and not to categorize or cataloguing them into certain type of genre or subgenre. As this was originally recorded in 1972, the concept work by the British progressive rock group only available one year due to the dispute with Marvel Comics. The Marvel World Of Icarus was a concept work based around the Marvel Comics stable of superheroes. Taken from the original master tapes, this first-ever official reissue (2007) - includes comprehensive liner notes, band quotes and previously unpublished photos - tells the fascinating story behind the album as well as documenting the wider adventures of Icarus during their 1968-72 existence.

Let's talk about the music. You might classify the music under regular classic rock type of thing similar to Captain Beyond even though it's not really similar. Yes, the music is quite raw and not clearly rock in nature but for sure it's a progressive one as I can find many time signature changes as well as style changes. In my case, the music really astonishes me as it blends various kind of music with sort of jazz, rock, pop as well as afro american style as well. The recording style is raw as it was i think intended to be like this - it sounds really great to my ears. The music moves nicely in relatively fast tempo with mostly upbeat style blending stunning guitar, dynamic flutework as well as saxophone solo along many tracks featured. The flute work I really love and it can be found many segments in the album. The basslines are also very dynamic combined with excellent drumming. In terms of style changes the band demonstrates it in various songs for example in Thor (8th track) where the music suddenly changes its style into slow tempo one. I do not read the Marvel Comics but I am very sure that the songs provided here were intended to represent the superheroes characters as described in the comics.

Overall, this is a highly recommended album with full four-star rating as the music is unique, rich in composition and textures, and most importantly it is cohesive as whole concept album from the opening track into the concluding one. As this is based on comics, the musical style heavily based on story-telling with powerful vocal work. This albu has become my regular playlist for months as I really like the style. Do not think of any symphonic or eclectic or any kind of neo prog music .....just enjoy listening the music - and I am sure you will find joy with it. Keep on proggin' ...!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW