HERE COME THE WARM JETS

I had this album when it came out. I remember I was quite disappointed at the time. Well, I was only 15 and I guess I was expecting something more like his former band, Roxy Music. And although much more ´rock´ oriented than a lot of his latter works, Here Comes The Warm Jets, is far from being your average pop rock album of the day. His experimentalisms were already blossoming here. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it doesn´t. Or so it looked to me.

Only recent I had the opportunity to hear it again and I was quite impressed. The guy was, or is, a visionary. Many of his innovations are now common place, but in the early 70´s nobody, or very few people, were doing so many different things on a single album. I specially liked his guitar treatments. That´s is something remarkable even by today´s standards. And some tracks are quite strong and pleasant. Baby´s On Fire is certainly a favorite, I just loved its tense, unorthodox backing arrangement behind the simple pop melody line. Other interesting tunes are Needles In the Camel´s Eye, Cindy Tells Me. Some Of Them Are Old and In Some Faraway Beach.

Backed by some of prog´s most outstanding musicians of the time (Robert Fripp, John Wetton, Andy Mackay, Simon King, Bill McCormick, Phil Manzanera, among many others)) this is a very interesting document of an era, a snapshot of a time even such groundbreaking and unorthodox album could make it to the top 40. It is not for everyone, I should warn you. It is still sounds different and experimental after all these years. Since I tend for the more orthodox side of prog (meaning the more melodic side of it), I will give it 3 stars. Important, ok, groundbreaking, ok, but not really essential in MY prog collection. I recommend it for the ones that like something different