PRESENT FROM NANCY

There are so many bands hailing from the Netherlands and so many of them are extraordinarily good, at that. I mean, look at Focus or Mr. Albert Show or Earth & Fire or Ekseption, to name but a few. One of the really great and inventive of these was Supersister. This band made a grand and spectacular journey among the grassy knolls of the progressive landscape. One could argue that they seemed to adopt alot of elements from the Canterbury scene and I suppose that wouldn't be an unfair statement to make. However, their identity and sound is certainly recognisable as one of their own.

On this, their first, album they draw an almost equal amount of influences from jazz, rock and (not the least) psychedelic scene and thus creating a very juicy, loud and complex piece of progressive rock. The opening "Introductions" is a nice jazzy track with great flute and piano over energetic drums. A fine way to open up an album, if you ask me. The title track introduces more jazzy complexity with a prominent piano. The fuzz bass makes a great complement to the "clean" sounds of piano and drums. It's a wonderful piece of jazzy prog. Things go decidedly proggy in a grand way on "Memories are new (Boomchick)" which is also great. The oddly named "11/8" is a wonderfully weird affair that's filled to the brim of odd time signatures (hence the title) and sounds. It would be a fitting soundtrack to a horror movie where someone is chased through the dark by whatever creature you prefer. "Dreaming wheelwhile" offers some breathing space and is a lovely, beatiful flute driven (and no, not in a Tull-ish kind of way) piece. And then it's time for some pure fun. "Corporation combo boys" opens up with some doo wop style vocals but goes in to a distorted pop fashion with a few crazy ideas thrown in just for the heck of it. "Mexico" is utterly brilliant. Just stunning! Beautiful, powerful and omnipotent it stands as a giant amidst the tracks on the album. "Metamorphosis" is probably the most powerful of the tracks. Distorted, with oppressive drumming and chaotic vibes it is a treat. To celebrate their native land I suppose they thought it funny to include a cover, but not in the sense you think. "Eight miles high" by Golden Earring sounds, with it's 26 seconds, like nothing you've heard before. The closing track, "Dona nobis pacem", is a fitting way to end this album, on a quiet (almost) note. It's like you would enter a medieval monastery and find the monks exercising a psychedelic workout using a prominent organ and some other effects and inventing (at the end) circus music. (If you listen to it you will know what I mean.) It is here where the psychedelic elements come to the fore. A bit like Pink Floyd interpreting the music of a distant age.

I find this album to be quite challenging but in a good way, as it is supposed to be. There is alot to discover and while my first listens circled round the idea of putting things in order, working stuff out and finding some order in a seemingly chaotic album I eventually came to the conclusion that this is a truly wonderful album. It is very much of it's time, since it incorporates so many psychedelic elements but having said that it is important to stress the progressive geniuses at work here. If you're into Canterbury, jazz-rock or, simply put, great progressive rock I think you might want to lend your ears to this slice of great dutch cheese.