Thursday 20 July 2017

Machiavel - Jester (1977)


The second album from this Belgium based band.

Machiavel was a quintet on this album with a lineup of guitars, bass, drums, harpsicord, keyboards, piano, sax, clarinet, mellotron, glockenspiel and vocals. There was also a lot of other minor instruments here. That list is very long.

Their 1976 self-titled debut album was not particular impressive. A band not really in full bloom. A band not yet finding themselves.

This album made the band. So much that they are still alive and well with twelve albums under their belt and a huge local following. Machiavel is Belgium. That in both my estimation and in the estimation of a lot of other progheads too.

It is a bit difficult to pinpoint Machiavel and their music. Take a big chunk of Ange and Supertramp. Mix them with a lot of Kayak and you are there.

The music is most definate symphonic prog on this album. The songs are medium long and the song structures are very much in the symphonic prog vein. They still sounds a lot like Supertramp, though....

That is not anywhere near being a bad thing. I find this forty-six minutes long album very charming and engaging. The music is good throughout. This is by no means an easy-listening album. It is a rather dense and demanding album with multiple layers. That is perhaps why this album is still a popular album. And with good reasons. Check it out.

3 points



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