SENSATIONS' FIX

As explained in the Pitchfork review, this compilation derives material "from five Sensations' Fix albums, one Franco Falsini solo record, and a series of unreleased outtakes" and features a variety of styles. This includes, of course, Psych Rock but also immediately clearly very satisfying and not at all derivative Kosmische Musik (right on time?) yet not unlike something out of an ENO release (e.g. "Cold Nose Part 3, 4th Movement")--perhaps, and not surprisingly, my least favorite parts, if anything. Plenty of Proggy goodness throughout though.

"Leave My Chemistry" features very Hugh HOPPER-like fuzzed-out bass played atop very welcomed, of the time synthesis. "Grow On You", not ignoring its overall appeal here, is really a great Pop song! Great balance, great melody. "Music is Painting" has a carefree almost jam-band feel, like spacy-er GRATEFUL DEAD? Not exactly.

Other surefire highlights are "Fragments of Light" and "Left Side of Green"

Overall, a very balanced and handsome compilation of excellent (oft Ambient) Space-Psych-meets-Prog music from Italy. Frankly glad. And also glad because I realized I hadn't listened through the loved-enough Finest Finger (1976) before! Added to The List!

By 1974 prog rock was yielding to decadence as a dominant genre, and, while many superb releases would follow to this day, it was becoming increasingly challenging to furnish a breakthrough or even establish a niche. It is from the latter more modest school that Franco Falsini's SENSATIONS' FIX emanates. First of all, "Fragments of Light" bears more resemblance to the wave of German electronica fronted by POPOL VUH and TANGERINE DREAM, with nods to Krautrock Alter Cockers AMON DUUL 2 and MYTHOS, than to the accomplishments of the big boys from Italy before, during or after this point in time.

Most of the lead instrumentation is operated by Falsini, who seems to play by feel and perception more than by stanza and sheet. Alternating from amorphous moogy atmospheres to surprisingly hummable numbers, "Fragments of Light" is at its best when it evinces a pseudo surf electronica in the form of the title cut, the brilliant folk-tinged "Music is Painting in the Air", and the whirring alt country of "Life Beyond Darkness". Another favorite is "Space Energy Age", particularly the first part, as the effect of the second is somewhat dampened by rare vocals.

"Fragments of Light" seems to have arisen from simultaneous circumstances that can't be simulated or imitated. Its uncommon etiology and Falsini's innate grooviness combine to make it more than a mere historical curiosity, albeit modestly so.

The music of Sensations' Fix is often compared to their fellow travelers on the Krautrock bandwagon, and with good reason: Florence, Italy (where the Fix made its base) is a lot closer to Germany than to Britain or America. But in truth the band never resembled anyone except themselves, practicing a unique style of cosmic rock still hard to pin down a generation later, despite the singular voice of Franco Falsini's guitar technique: impossible to mistake once heard.

The second credited Fix album was actually their first as a legitimate group, recorded on the crest of an unexpected record deal in 1974. Unlike the mostly solo research and development of "Fragments of Light" (released earlier the same year), this one sounds like a genuine collaboration, and is easily the band's most consistent, and strongest, effort.

'Strength' is a relative term, however. 1974 saw Progressive Rock approaching its apex of ambition (in albums like "Relayer" and "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway"), while Falsini and his trio were cloistered in a Florence basement, weaving their hand-crafted magic: space travel on a shoestring, but with a firm grip on the laces.

Other reviewers in these Archives have already analyzed each track, from the ominous opening groove of "Smooth and Round" (fading in as if the band had already been jamming for days) to the album's drifting, proto-ambient coda, enigmatically titled "With Relative Jump Into Water". Note the lack of actual songs, perhaps a key to the album's higher overall score here. And notice too the airtight ensemble discipline, without a single wasted note in evidence: a rare thing in progressive rock at the time.

A lot of the music here would reappear on subsequent Fix albums, often with added vocals or under different titles: anything to meet the contract obligations set by the clueless suits at Polydor Records. The company must have realized all too quickly that the insular, almost amateur nature of their new band was never going to light up the charts, or attract anything more than a cult fan base.

Which was fine by Mr. Falsini and crew. The guitarist would later sum up his entire (and still active) career in music with Zen-like modesty: "We can change the world without anyone noticing the difference."

The first Sensations' Fix LP was more or less a happy accident, and never intended as a finished album. You might get the impression it was recorded off the cuff in guitarist Franco Falsini's basement, and guess what: you'd be right. After sweet-talking a traveling salesman out of his demonstration MiniMoog, Falsini began goofing around with the new equipment in the Virginia home of his American wife, trying "to go beyond the sound of the guitar", quoting a 2012 interview.

The band itself didn't even exist at the time. It was only much later that Falsini would share the tapes with friends in England, and then receive an unsolicited record deal from Polydor (Italy): in retrospect a mixed blessing for such an underachieving visionary. A new band was quickly assembled, and those same basement demos became their debut album...an odd start to what would be an unusual career.

The album's name was chosen well, with eleven (mostly) instrumental song fragments filling only 37-minutes. But the music remains untethered to any concept of time or space, and is best summarized by the song titles themselves: "Music Without Gravity"; "Music Is Painting In the Air"; so forth. The latter in particular can be heard as the signature track not only of the embryonic group, but arguably also for Progressive Rock in general, expressed in a simple yet soaring four-minute epiphany.

For spiritual guidance Falsini made a role model of ROBERT FRIPP, in a fan letter printed directly on the album's back cover: "Dear Robert, you'll be glad to know that the heavenly music organization is here too." It might have been a subtle marketing ploy as well: anyone hip enough in 1974 to catch the reference to Fripp and Eno's commercially obscure "No Pussyfooting" album would likely be on the same wavelength as Falsini and company.

It's too bad Polydor Records didn't subscribe to the same heavenly music ethic. But in retrospect they did us all a favor by rashly signing such an unlikely ensemble, much like they did with the Krautrock troublemakers of FAUST three years earlier, and probably with similar regrets. In this one happy instance, being condemned by a fuzzy memory to repeat the mistakes of the past was a blessing in disguise.

Guitarist Franco Falsini and his band Sensations' Fix released only a handful of LPs in their prime, which would seem to mark them as something less than a success story but more than a cult act. Things might have been different if Falsini had showed more interest in making money instead of music. But that was never his aim, and his lifelong indifference to anything outside the actual music has kept it fresh, if undeservedly neglected.

The band's third album, from 1976, is more or less typical of the distinctive Fix style: economical synth and guitar explorations, on a tighter leash than most Space Rock. The amateur home production is a handicap, and demands a little forbearance when heard today. Richard Ursillo's bass guitar is mixed too low, and the ace drumming of Keith Edwards (another American expat, outnumbering the locals in a supposedly Italian group) is often inaudible.

An optimist might say the inadequate sound quality helped to keep the music safely insulated from the multi-track excesses of the era. In my own experience, this and other Sensations' Fix albums enjoyed complete immunity from the irrational Post-Punk vinyl purges that decimated my once-proud Progressive Rock library, precisely because of that diamond-in-the-rough quality. Despite their cosmic attitude the Fix was a garage band at heart, and needs to be approached as such.

So ignore the muddy sound, and the glossy ineptitude of the front cover art. The gritty photograph inside the original gatefold sleeve, showing the quartet at work in their makeshift basement studio outside Florence, Italy, is a more honest representation of their music: the dystopian energy of the song "Boat of Madness"; the sci-fi trippiness of the title track; the ecstatic "Map".

And above all, the insinuating "Strange About Your Hands": a Fix classic, revamped (with lyrics) from an earlier instrumental, business as usual for the parsimonious Falsini. The guitarist would frequently recycle the same music under different titles, mostly to confound the bean-counters at Polydor Records, who weren't really listening anyway. At one point the band even released an entire album outside Falsini's contract with Polydor ("Vision's Fugitives", an apt title), upsetting their paymasters and further confusing their recorded legacy.

Robert Fripp, an acknowledged hero to Falsini, once wrote: "The business of a musician is music. The business of a professional musician is business." That was Sensations' Fix: a group straddling the hard line separating boundless amateurs from reluctant professionals.

Three strong stars for this effort, with another added for taking the high road to obscurity.

This long overdue compilation turns a welcome spotlight on a band not only ripe for re-appraisal, but still waiting to be discovered after half a lifetime in cult music purgatory. The two-CD set collects a generous medley of alternate album cuts, unreleased experiments, basement demos and other flotsam, all arranged in haphazard but intuitive order. But that was Sensations' Fix: a group that always defeated easy classification, and followed a very erratic muse.

The band was based in Italy but cross-mixed with American talent, and practiced a unique blend of spacey (not Space) Rock, likewise unbound by geographic frontiers. Krautrock synthesizers were prominent, but without the usual sequencer clichés. Robert Fripp was an acknowledged influence, but not enough to affect the unmistakable guitar style of head-Fixer Franco Falsini. Arrangements were typically instrumental, but the occasional songs were equally definitive, thanks in large part to Falsini's heavily-accented, adenoidal English: another Fix hallmark.

Over a brief four year span in the 1970s the band released five group albums and one enigmatic Falsini solo opus, all captured with disarming lo-fi vitality despite financial support (such as it was) from a major record label. The twin essay/autobiography in the CD booklet places their fragmented history into better perspective, clarifying the chicken-egg relationship between the albums "Boxes Paradise" and "Vision's Fugitives", and detailing Falsini's ongoing war against Polydor Records.

In retrospect the deal he signed in 1974 was a mixed blessing. Polydor exercised total ownership of the Fix name and Falsini's work, but at the same time showed next to no interest in the music itself. The fallout was a senseless release schedule with little promotion, one reason why the band remains a little known cult act today. But without a major label behind them would any of this imaginative music even exist today? Maybe, but it would have been a lot harder to find, forty years later.

Falsini and company never bowed to corporate pressure, instead recording what they wanted, when they felt like it...usually in a home basement studio, on tailor-made or modified equipment. So it makes sense that all the music here was compiled in aesthetic rather than chronological order. This was a band that existed outside the straightjacket of time and fashion, and as a result their sound didn't evolve from session to session: it ebbed and flowed and circled backed on itself like a möbius strip made from 1/2" reel-to-reel tape, with melodies reappearing under different names on subsequent albums, and song titles recycled for different tunes.

All of which makes a track-by-track overview difficult (and pointless: there's 46 tracks here!) But if I had to single out one quintessential sample of the Sensations' Fix experience, my first choice would have to be the title cut of this collection, first heard on the band's debut album "Fragments of Light" but dramatically remixed for the 1978 LP-only collection "Flying Tapes".

The more dynamic later version is the one appearing here, beautifully described by our colleague Michael from Melbourne as "the soundtrack for loving life itself"...an observation worth repeating, summing up a band still worth exploring.

Ah, compilations! The obligatory contract-fillers for many bands, lazily put together with little care or love, and with a couple of throwaway bonus tracks slapped on the end as a cheap way to squeeze a couple more bucks out of your faithful followers, what good are they? Well, Franco Falsini, main man of Italian space-rockers Sensations' Fix, bucks the trend and offers a highly desirable and worthwhile assortment of thirty pieces compiled from the early to mid 70's years of their recordings, as well as unreleased tracks and related material from his own solo music. Entitled "Music is Painting in the Air (1974-1977)" and spread across two compact discs, although there's short gaps between tracks, all of the pieces take on a gentle, continuous flowing atmosphere, and it's the perfect overview of their wondrous music.

Many of the works included in this set have been slightly remixed and brought up to date with modern techniques, but they never lose their vintage magic, instead taking on a richness and fuller sound that they never had before. Admittedly calling Sensations' Fix a `space-rock' band is selling them a little short, as they work so many other subtle styles into their fragile and euphoric music, very much in evidence on this set. Primarily instrumental, some tracks have been subtly remixed from their original studio versions, so knowledgeable fans of the band will enjoy hearing what little touches have been added to the compositions. Tracks like `Leave My Chemistry' from `Portable Madness' have been beefed up with extra heavy snarling bass, and the eerie deep-space of `Left Side of Green' takes on even more unease with it's relentless bass.

`Scraping Delay' is a dazzling pretty starfield set to music, `Cosmic Saudade' a phasing liquid drone, `Warped Notions of a Practical Joke' an acid-country drowse. `Chelsea Hotel Room' is a machine-like brood, `Strangelands' sounds like a harsh electronic nightmare, and the light ethnic flavours mixed with electronics during interlude `Overflowing Ashtrays' remind of German band Agitation Free. The melancholic chiming guitar and bass ruminations of `Acudreaming' is hypnotic, the up-tempo guitar victories alongside tasty Moog ripples of `Fragment of Light' take flight, and there's an uplifting floating hopefulness to `Into The Memory'.

Of the few vocal pieces that show up occasionally, `Grow On You' is a loved up grooving acid-rocker, `C'E Nessuno' a warm Italian-sung acid-folk acoustic ballad, `Dark Side of Religion' a sighing thoughtful reflection, `Cold Nose Story' a wilting lullaby laced with melancholy, `Fortune Teller' a wasted psychedelic ballad.

Included in the mix are some absolute Sensations' Fix classics such as the dramatic `Map', with it's confident acoustic guitars gliding over subtle synth washes, the joyful and positive foot-tapping `Music is Painting' seems like the soundtrack for loving life itself, and `Crossing Berlin' is, with that title, unsurprisingly is a longer pulsing electronic soundscape in the manner of the early Klaus Schulze albums. Also especially precious are the trickling pretty ambient washes from the various fragments of Franco's electronic classic `Cold Nose' album sprinkled around the two discs. Strangely, Franco chooses to close the album with an assortment of unreleased `Darkside' pieces that are supremely gloomy and tantalising alien electronic pieces, quite daring after a run of joyous and more likeable tracks in a row just before it.

Housed in a unique cardboard pouch that includes two CD slipcases and a lovely booklet, it simply reinforces what a special and precious release this is. Despite much of it being over forty years old, their music hasn't dated at all, is frequently daring, evocative and still effortlessly cool. But best of all, `Music Is Painting...' never comes across as a cynical cash- in compilation. It truly is a labour of love for Franco Falcini and his band, with each piece being carefully considered and arranged in an order to offer as much gently unfolding musical bliss as possible, and the production tweakings means this music sounds better that ever. With only a few Sensations' Fix albums having been reissued on CD, this compilation is the easiest and currently best way to enjoy their music. It's also the ideal start for curious listeners, and hopefully it paves the way for a full set of Sensations' Fix album reissues in the near future.

Five stars for such timeless beautiful music.

Reputedly the place were Sensations' Fix were recording their albums was a farm house near Florence, where they had built their own studio.While ''Fragments of light'' was more of a demo-like effort, the next work of the band ''Portable madness'' marked their first properly recording attempt, composed entirely by Falsini and produced by Filippo Milani.It was issued in 1975 on Polydor.

With this album Sensations' Fix turn a bit towards more rocking-based textures, defined by the many isolated guitar parts, but they still show a preference towards a very spacious sound.The music had become more complex with a great combination of neurotic analog synthesizers and sinister bass lines, interrupted often by heavier guitar moves and spacey distortions.Instead of building their style on the TANGERINE DREAM principles and the MIKE OLDFIELD-like textures, they went on for a more personal sound, which now included melancholic atmospheres, dramatic Electronic moods and pounding beats.Falsini had established his own way to combine synth manipulations with spacey guitar vibes, delivered via odd grooves, intricate solos and even some bombastic, still trippy moments.Gone are the long hypnotic parts of the debut and the whole material here sounds much more energetic and passionate with dual keyboard experiments, always surrounded by the solid bass work and drumming.The album is entirely instrumental and, unlike many works of the style, it shows a strong sense of careful structuring with limited loose parts and very tight composing.

Great work of synth-based Space Rock with series of unique atmospheres.Better than Sensations' Fix'es debut, featuring a good bunch of electric moves among the thunderous synth lines.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.

This album never had a review, and I've never seen a review for this album anywhere else, so here's my stab at it. Vision's Fugitive's was their only American release, released on the short-lived All Ears label (only four titles exist on this label, as far as I know, Chronicle's Like a Message From the Stars, this one, Far East Family Band's Tenkujin, and Jasun Martz's The Pillory). Unsurprisingly, much the music is not unlike the first half of Boxes Paradise, that is, vocal and guitar oriented with some synths, but nowhere as dominant as on earlier releases like Fragments of Light or Portable Madness. Drummer Keith Edwards seems to be now out of the picture, with Steve Head doing much of the drumming, although Marco Marchovecchio does provide drumming on "Barnhaus Effect No. 2" and "She's Gonna Grow On You". Keith Edwards is credited on the title track, but it was actually a track from Boxes Paradise, and reused on this album (this piece actually being a remake of stuff off Finest Finger, with vocals included). Much of this album is vocal/guitar dominated, with some nice synth work, as demonstrated on "Project Wishing Well", "Barnhaus Effect No. 2", "Fortune Teller", "She's Gonna Grow On You" and "Charlotte's Observer". There are a couple of pieces where Franco Falsini tries something different, like "Fleetwood Trip L-Track" where it consists of looped overlapping guitar, reminding one of Fripp & Eno (which is no surprise, given they had a big impact on Franco Falsini). Or "Chelsea Hotel (Room 625)" which has this sinister feel. It strangely reminds me of the synth intro of Aldo Nova's "Fantasy" (minus the helicopter sound), although that song did not appear until 1982, and I'm sure was more of a coincidence, as Aldo Nova's music was much closer to 1979-era Jefferson Starship ("Fantasy" rips off "Jane"), Loverboy, and other AOR acts of the time, and unlikely he heard of Sensations' Fix. Of course, as on previous Sensations' Fix albums since Finest Finger, you'll hear remakes of previously recorded material. One being the title track, which already appeared on Boxes Paradise, as mentioned earlier. "She's Gonna Grow On You" is a remake of "The Flu" off Boxes Paradise, the vocals are different (although the lyrics are the same), seems deeper, and the beat is different (as it was Marco Marcovecchio drumming here, rather than Keith Edwards as on the original). Plus you get a short snippet of Franco's solo album Cold Nose (Naso Freddo) (1975) at the end of "Fix a Drinking Fountain: Cold Nose Flashback". I noticed how this song reminds me of "Dark Side of Religion" which appeared recently on Music is Painting in the Air 1974-1977 in 2012, but with different lyrics. Similar guitar rhythm. I have seen this album described as having a more "American" sound than before, but it's not like they went all West Coast by trying to sound like The Eagles or Crosby, Stills & Nash, it sounds much like what Sensations' Fix been doing since Finest Finger. Maybe it was "Warped Notions of a Practical Joke", which had a bit of that acoustic blues feel to it that gave it a more "American" feel, but then when the synth solo kicks in, it's more typical Sensations' Fix.

I remembered back in 1998 being told that Vision's Fugitives is not one of their better albums. You know what? I very much find the album enjoyable. Certainly vocals are all over this album, except for a handful of cuts, but I've grown to love Franco Falsini's grasp of the English language (although he's lived in the States on and off since 1969). I have to say that in the 1970s Sensations' Fix was incapable of making a bad album. Sadly Vision's Fugitives can only be found on LP, so you'll end up having to fork the money for a copy (and since the time DJ Shadow started sampling their music, and the "kids" (those, I mean, around the ages 20-40, that is) have now discovered them, the original LPs, which were once fairly inexpensive, have now shot through the roof, this one included). This album certainly grew on me big time after several listens, and it's worth having.

Technical perfection VS studio time.

Sensations' Fix other 1974, vinyl album "Portable Madness", is more primal yet it has a more accomplished performance dexterity, in comparisson to their 1974 "Fragments of Light" record. But somehow, even though, the music sounds perfectly rehearsed and put up together, the feeling in general is too technical and more than once, heartless mechanical. To the point of going backwards and start sounding as if they were still playing a "studio run-through" (like the ones that appear as bonuses on today's "oldies" remastered cds). I mean, I do appreciate skilled musicianship, but not to the point of "pressured by studio time" (and money, I suppose) almost-perfect but "soulless" performances. The line between is too thin as to become and sound like a "music school's final test" presentation or mere "almost there" rehearsals .

As far as studio perfection, I myself will choose low-budget masterpieces over hi-tech garbage. But money is money, no one's concern, unless its yours. What saves the day are this record's highlights, which are evidently found on the last 4 and a half tracks, when the band had throughly "warmed up" and was more comfortable with the "studio situation" they were trapped into. Quiet undeserving for the "flowing-like" intention of the recording (no mute gaps between each song), because It takes them to much time, to really lift off. And their developing own- musical language, is also stuck in the same kind of mud. Too technical as if scared to miss the note, like "stage fright".

I do prefer "Fragments of Light" more experimental tone, less technical compositions and more heartfelt performances as a whole.

With less pretention in technical perfection (more studio-time,maybe) and a "whole lotta love", this could have sounded above my ***3 "flat" PA stars rating. Promising but not enough.