Label: Repertoire Records (UK), REPUK 1016
Style: Progressive Rock, Psychedelic Rock
Country: Notting Hill, London, England
Time: 48:16
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 333 Mb
Second
album by Quintessence had been in some way slightly advanced compared
to their debut with more elaborate tracks and a less pop-ish sound. On
the other hand it appeared as well rather incoherent with spiritual
chants standing at times blatantly besides acid jamming and Cream-ish
heavy blues rocking. Overall it revealed a kind of nice atmosphere not
too far away from the one in early Krautrock albums. Their ecumenical
hymn "Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Gauranga" which opens the album reflects
very well the spirit of this record they dedicated "to Our Lord Jesus".
This one's by far the only commercially sounding one on here belonging
together with "Notting Hill Gate" and "Gange Mai" from their debut to
the most memorable songs by them. "Sea of immortality" sounds
considerably more sophisticated exploding into a jam session and here's
the place where the hint to Cream becomes obvious. "High on Mt. Kailash"
is an excerpt of a planned rock opera starting with birds singing and
reveals droning sitar, some jingling temple bells and Shiva's haunting
vocals that remind me at times a lot to Jim Morrison's. That one's quite
a mysterious and fascinating track and certainly one of the highlights
of this album. After that one there's a sudden skip to the live recorded
very loud instrumental "Burning bush" featuring heavy jamming of
wah-wah guitar, bass and drums. This track seams to be not very well
placed between the previous one and the following spiritual "Shiva's
Chant" and as Chris Welch suggests in his liner notes the close array of
these contrasting performances presented here by the band might reflect
in some way the contrast between the two aspects of their style. But in
fact the rather imperfect structure of this album and its appearance as
more of a compilation of songs than a coherent work is the only reason
for considering it less essential. For the song material here is really
substantial as demonstrated by the next two tracks "Prisms" and
"Twilight Zones". The former one is all instrumental and consists of an
improvised flute solo by Raja Ram with the addition of some great echo
effects. This one segues seamlessly into the next track being an
excellent ballad-type one dominated by Shiva's vocals and backed with
flute and guitar. "Maha Mantra" is another hypnotic chant followed by
the slow ballad "Only Love" whereas in "St. Pancras" the band presents
us once again their live jam qualities. The short track "Infinitum"
finally closes this rather strange album with a quite awkward droning
sound. But overall such kind of hypnotic and droning sections which
aren't not that much my "cup" usually are kept here quite shorted and I
really don't find them disturbing at all.
As a summary of my review
I've to say though I usually don't favour albums with religious contents
this one was quite appealing to me albeit being a more difficult listen
than their debut. Nevertheless it's a kind of acquired taste and some
people might feel alienated by its religious background. Thus I would
not consider it essential in a general Prog context but fans of
Krautrock or spiritually influenced "hippie music" might check out this
band. Actually I'd rate their first two releases as equally good with 3 ?
stars but since I've put 3 for their debut I'll round up here to 4!
(progarchives.com/album.asp?id=7133) Review by hdfisch. December 2, 2006
01. Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Gauranga (05:01)
02. Sea Of Immortality (05:18)
03. High On Mt. Kailash (05:51)
04. Burning Bush (Live) (02:35)
05. Shiva's Chant (02:16)
06. Prisms (03:11)
07. Twilight Zones (05:18)
08. Maha Mantra (01:37)
09. Only Love (03:54)
10. St. Pancras (Live) (06:19)
11. Infinitum (01:45)
12. Jesus, Buddha, Moses, Gauranga (Live Version) (05:07)
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