AHORA MAZDA

This is sadly the one and only album from this Dutch band. Then again, their brand of space rock does not split atoms or are any kind of original.

The songs on this album is put it plainly, based on small simple melodies, children lullabies in fact, and then expanded into jams. The original children lullabies like themes last for a minute and the rest is guitar solos and/or spaced out jams. In between, there are some avant- garde stuff with god knows instruments. The vocals is heavy Dutch accented English.

Although the quality is very good throughout, this album is very charming in it's entirety. Both the naive heavy accented vocals and the melodies is very charming and makes everyone smiles. Which I guess is what this flower power is about, even in Amsterdam. That and these cookies they are selling there (which I off course do not condone in any way). I also like the art work a lot.

In short, this album is as charming as a kitten. Take the quality into consideration too, this is an album well worth adding to your collection of good prog. I am a happy owner of this album.

When it comes to adding a kitten to my household, on the other hand.........

4 stars

"Spacey Tracy" is a cool song. I like the lyrics because it reminds me of this girl in high school we hung out with.We called her Spinney. Drums, vocals and flute lead in this catchy track. The last 5 minutes is all instrumental as guitar comes in with drums and percussion. Piano 5 1/2 minutes in. "Timeless Dream" is led by soft flute early and strummed guitar. Drums and vocals 1 1/2 minutes in. "Oranje Vrijstaat" has these odd and different sounds that come and go. Sax is prominant late with lots of atmosphere.

"Fallen Tree" kicks in after a minute with mainly flute and drums. Great sound. Guitar before 4 1/2 minutes and it stays all instrumental until just before 9 minutes when the vocals return to end it. "Power" features strummed guitar, bass and flute early. Vocals 2 minutes in including some processed vocals. Guitar solo before 4 1/2 minutes as drums continue. Nice. "Fantasio" opens with tribal-like drumming. Sax after 2 minutes becomes dissonant. Flute before 5 minutes.

I think this will appeal to fans of the genres I mentioned at the start of the review. This is sort of a rare find to be honest and is worth tracking down.

This ingredients are mixed up to a quite irresistible cocktail, which means any attempt will fail to categorize them in a strict sense. Just take Oranje Vrijstraat which puzzles me as no other. On one side this sounds improvised at all cost ... but then I get the impression as if this is totally arranged, provided with a well thought out structure. A jazzy trippy thing where every member is soloing beyond exception, even drummer Winky Abbink. Can't imagine really that this is spontaneously.played. And if they really did .... respect, respect. Never mind, if you're searching for a challenge you've found the right album here.

While Spacy Tracy starts very popular beat alike shaped, quasi referring to their musicals roots, it all develops to something new due to Peter Abbink's incredible fuzzy guitar playing after a while. Next the drummer seems to drive crazy. And then somehow you begin to smell that the first collapse won't be long in coming. So you can say this song describes their metamorphosis from a pop combo to an experimental prog band. An that's it with the following songs in the same way. The band basically serves a jazzy setting but the Abbink brothers are the counterpart first and foremost with psychedelic guitar and unusual virtuoso drum playing.

Pseudonym's digital re-release is enhanced with five additional excursions where they are crossing their special spaced-out realm, seemingly excerpts from long improvisations which qualifies them for the krautrock category so much the better. Probably recorded live because they were known for offering intriguing hippy-underground gigs. The band's eponymous effort is a sonic adventure. This album sounds ahead of time. A surprising snapshot from this short-lived crew. Absolutely recommended to anyone who is searching for original prog bands with an experimental approach when making the transition to the 1970s.

The point I'm very surprised is that AHORA MAZDA seem to play relaxed from start to finish, without any prickles or needles on their mind. We can see the fact in Peter Abbink's laidback guitar solo or Rob van Wageningen's graceful flute one. But wait please don't be deceived - ingeniously AHORA MAZDA has set a trap as an album. Above mentioned aside, I feel the most ingenious part should be the rhythm section by Tony and Winky, two skilled but inconspicuous (sorry!) men. Really they can absorb us listeners with comfortably streaming beat and tempo...I wanna say the basis is absolutely their steady rhythm. Magic, they can do. Needless to say on the first track Spacy Tracy, even the simple bass sounds on the next Timeless Dream are heavy and strict, suitable for the rigid ground of this song. Over this rhythm section, a graphic flute, a terrific guitar, and psychic chorus should spread one by one. Furthermore in Oranje Vrijstraat mysterious and spiritual percussion spelling should knock us away deeply to Ahorholic world. I always wonder why such a complex beat can immerse us like an amphetamine. Another impressive part is Peter's lazy and fatigued voices. Indeed his voice may be underevaluated but this psychedelic world do needs his characteristic growlin'. Like a junkie, he goes through songs with his obscurity, especially the fourth track Fallen Tree. This floating atmosphere continues on Power, that has depressive and "indoor" air with twisted horizon. And at last in Fantasio African beats by rising-up-to-the space percussion should keep us holding under MAZDANDELION-coloured psychedelia!

They released this album as their one and only work in 1970 - again surprised. They already have conquered our mind with their trap!

On their one and only album, they decided not to play the elongated sets, but more conveniently arranged songs. This doesn't mean you get easy to swallow music. The free form music still exists, as can be heard in tracks like "Oranje Vrijstaat", the most avant-garde of the album or in the second half of "Spacy Tracy" with a long Hendrix-like guitar solo and a very spacy ending. More structured are the haunting "Timeless Dream" and "Power". "Fallen Tree" is the most rocking track of the album with a heavy guitar solo and excellent flute playing. On "Fantasio" several percussion instruments are used.

On the CD reissue five bonus tracks are added. These give away some of the magic from the original album. Although it looks like they are tracks, they a more sort of random chosen parts from a studio session. They may give some insight in how a concert of Ahora Mazda might have sounded like, but for me they are not so interesting.

In conclusion, this is a psychedelic masterpiece from the Netherlands. This album, together with Group 1850's "Paradise Now" (1969) and Surprieze's "Zeer Oude Klanken en Heel Nieuwe Geluiden" (1972) are the top three of psychedelic rock from this country. It is recommended to everyone with a love for some old psychedelic rock. Especially when you want some jazz added to the mix.

The last five bonus tracks are a bunch of excerpts from the band's collective jazz improvisations, which sound sometimes resemble the primitive passages of Syd Barrett's "Lanky", sometimes the cosmic electronic sound walls of Hawkwind. Sadly the excerpts are only cuts, varying in length from under two minutes to over four, beginning and ending from a silent void. I wouldn't have mind hearing some improvisation "mistakes", rather the hearing only glimpses of the grooves. But anyway, I really liked the little melancholic but still laid back feeling of this album, and I would recommend it warmly to anybody liking both 70's psychedelic blues/jazz rock and dreamy impressionistic collective jams. Also the flute melodies are here very strong, so the fans of that instrument might want to try giving this album a listen.