Extreme Commitment to the music
author: BrianG
This is Big Band progressive at its biggest, channeling the work of Zappa's Grand Wazoo and his modern day follower the Eddie Palmieri Band, plus some of Jaco Pastorius' band work. The music is generally melodic and not too dissonant. "Lyin' In The Fields Alone" falls quickly into a heavy rock tune almost like the skacore of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, who's Boston is a home turf for both artists. (from www.progressiveears.com)
It took a section of six horns, a crowd of vocalists, a six piece rhythm section and over 30 additional musicians to pull this all together. The album flows as a rock or jazz opera. There are two sides to this CD - Side One is based on a Robert Browning poem "Prospice". Side Two is composed of a four-song suite called "Oh Busy Air" plus four more songs. The perplexing album cover seems to illustrate part of the story, but without the Browning in front of me, I was lost. This is the second release from the Wings of Fire Orchestra (WOFO) following the 2006 release of "Bullfighter Ballet".
Imagine Chicago with all the writing talent scoring for their own instrument on every song. Each song has many parts playing at the same time, combining into chords then flying in all directions. WOFO's heavily used vocalists scream out their best overdubbed Freddie Mercury and throw in a modern Broadway's Musical or two. This is Big Band progressive at its biggest, channeling the work of Zappa's Grand Wazoo and his modern day follower the Eddie Palmieri Band, plus some of Jaco Pastorius' band work. The music is generally melodic and not too dissonant. "Lyin' In The Fields Alone" falls quickly into a heavy rock tune almost like the skacore of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, who's Boston is a home turf for both artists.
The only letdowns for me were when the band throws in smooth jazz sax solos and a little too much simple filler belying the progressive basis of the album. In fact, to me (although it does nothing to detract from the enjoyment of the release), much more of this album sounds like it comes from a jazz background rather than progressive rock.
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author: Lasse Myren
Chase, Chicago or BS&T goes riding with FZ on highway #1 ..... great music!
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