BEYOND THE BEYOND

Fantasy their debut gig at the famous London 'music temple' The Marquee alongside Robin Trower, not bad at all for such an unknown progrock formation. It was the start of a succesfull tour in the country, supporting bands like Uriah Heep, Argent, Free, Supertramp, Geensis, Greenslade and The Kinks. And one night, again at the Marquee, two bands were billed to promote their debut albums: Fantasy and...Queen! The debutalbum was called Paint A Picture and released in '73. Soon Fantasy belonged to the past, the tapes for a next album remained in the vaults of time. Until the label Audio Archives released these tapes as a CD called Beyond The Beyond. In my opinion this CD is one of the highlights of the Early British Progressive Movement, what a wonderful and elaborated compositions! Every track is very melodic and harmonic featuring tasteful keyboards (lots of Hammond organ), strong guitarwork, a dynamic rhythm-section and good vocals. The climates changes from mellow with acoustic guitar and warm vocals to bombastic with fiery electric guitar and majestic Mellotron eruptions ("Alanderie" is such a beautiful example!). THIS IS VERY WARM AND COMPELLING PROGRESSIVE ROCK, ONE OF MY FAVORITES SEVENTIES ALBUMS!!