MOVIN' ON

While much of Europe was winding down out of the progressive rock era and heading to safer grounds while the flood of punk and disco sounds were trumpeting around the world, the Swiss band CIRCUS continued to swim upstream by cranking out some of the most complex sounds of the entire 1970s. While forming in 1972 in Basel, the band nurtured its intelligently designed art form to the point the five members of Marco Cerletti (bass, bass pedals, guitar, backing vocals), Andreas Grieder (flute, alto saxophone, backing vocals, tambourine), Roland Frei (lead vocals, acoustic guitar, saxophone) and Fritz Hauser (drums, vibraphone, percussion) succeed in carving out an utterly distinct niche within the prog universe that to this day still sounds like no other.

One of the most startling aspects of this CIRCUS that came to town for a brief moment and then faded into the obscurity bins for decades to come was that this band crafted some of the most magnificent organic prog sounds WITHOUT electric guitars and even MORE surprisingly the total lack of keyboards. Now THAT should get them into the record books for that lofty feat alone however after CIRCUS unleashed its crafty debut onto the scene in 1976, the band fine-tuned the dreamy oft amorphous nature of its first offering and channeled all those skills into a vibrant and uncanny followup. MOVIN' ON was dropped onto the music world like a prog bomb on steroids and is pretty much unanimously considered the best prog specimen the tiny nation of Switzerland nurtured within its borders. The only problem was that very few were listening yet CIRCUS' sheer determination kept them relatively successful by declining prog terms for a brief moment in the latter 70s. At least in Europe that is.

This phenomenal nugget has been the best kept secret for decades but it seems its time has finally come with CD reissues and a revival of all things prog finally exposed en masse in the internet age. MOVIN' ON consisted of five tracks which included the massive sprawling title track that swallowed the entire B-side of the original vinyl, a trend that was a good five years behind the curve but matched the intensity and quality of anything cranked out by the bigwigs of the early prog years. While the self-titled debut was dreamy and abstract with only moments of melodic constructs to keep the passive listener engaged, MOVIN' ON started out with four accessible shorter tracks that deftly existed somewhere between the guitar-free soundscapes of Van Der Graaf Generator (even Frei's vocals remind of Peter Hammill on the opening "The Bandsman"), the Lizard-era jazz-prog of King Crimson, the flute-filled folk antics of Jethro Tull and Gnidrolog as well as the dexterity craftiness of Yes virtuosity at its "Relayer" era prowess.

"The Bandsman" tackles the crafty visionary prospects of taking the aforementioned influences into a steaming scalding cauldron of magical mojo. MOVIN' ON immediately provides a more direct pipeline to the emotional cortex of the brain due to the more lyric oriented compositions however like some of the great prog bands like Yes or KC, CIRCUS provided some of the most excellent virtuosic backing music and remember that there were no electric guitars or keyboards! With a folky acoustic guitar emphasis the second track "Laughter Lane" sounds a bit like the prog folk nature of Gnidrolog with lots of flute and knotty time signature-rich workouts. The vibraphone offers a jazzy touch. While Fritz Hauser provides some crafty percussive displays, his playing seems reserved as drum rolls provide the proper emphasis when needed. Once again when the saxophone sweetly serenades, the VDGG influences become ever more apparent.

"Loveless Time" starts off a lot like the debut album sounds, that being amorphous and electronically ambient with flutes echoing in the background. This chill pill moment continues even once the vocals join in however the track picks up the pace and becomes a frenetic jazz-rock sensation with lots of time signature deviations all the while keeping that dreamy spell-casting atmospheric nebulousness of the vibes and flute with the distant strumming of the acoustic guitar. While a common trait with CIRCUS this track seems to display the band's uncanny ability to change dynamics, keys, tempos and ability to weave independent counterpoints together without anything feeling the least big forced. The last of the "short" tracks, the near 8-minute "Dawn" continues the dreamy spaced out feel while an excitable bass emerges from the ethers. The vibes and flute speak to each other as the instrumentation evokes a wildlife having a conversation. After 2 minutes it completely fades out and shifts gears into a totally new compassion with erratic vibe tinklings and a jazzy sax lead along with a Chris Squire approved bass riff. As the bass becomes stuck in a cyclical loop the other instruments improvise a jazzy feast for the ears.

Although the entire album is the highlight, the tracks slowly build up both intensity and complexity and culminates with the whopping 22 1/2 minute title track which sounds like an entire album's worth of ideas in its own right. Starting off with a thundering roar of bantering bass fuzz, fluttering flute and processed electro-acoustic guitar sounds, this track wastes no time grabbing the prog aficionado and taking them to prog paradise like a totalitarian tornado whisking Dorothy and Toto off to see the Wizard. The instruments congregate like a murmuration of starlings squawking about but then suddenly the entire flock scatters and replaced by a vocal harmony segment that evokes those moments on The Yes Album only with a touch of Gentle Giant nonconformity. It becomes clear after about six minutes that this title track is sort of like a prog funhouse like visiting different rooms that offer different tastes of prog excellence along with little transitions evoking the walking distance between destinations. With seamless transitions between disparate themes, CIRCUS proves on this track alone that had this band emerged five years earlier in a jolly ole English setting that it would have gone down as one of the best prog bands EVER! The rest of the track only continues the prog wet dream come true. A true top 10 prog composition in my world.

CIRCUS was truly the cream of the crop and although the prog scene had seriously diminished, MOVIN' ON was somewhat of a delayed final conclusion for the entire 70s prog scene climaxing with the grace-of-god grande finale title track. Due to its modicum of success within the European continent with enough prog fans to offer a small base, CIRCUS did manage to stick it out a few more years however the band pretty much followed the trend of dumbing down its musical style on its third and final album "Fearless, Tearless and Even Less" which was released three years later in 1980 and then broke up two years later. This second album MOVIN' ON found the band at its creative peak which also remained one of those magnificent lost gems for decades to come while the progressive rock scene was relegated to the closet while less complex forms of musical expression were thrust into the spotlight. As far as crafty complex prog albums go, it doesn't really get any better than MOVIN' ON. This ranks right up there with "Close To The Edge," "Selling England By The Pound" or any King Crimson album. This album is consistently excellent from beginning to end and should be on everybody's all time favorite list!