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This is a discussion thread for Passport's 1975 album Cross Collateral. The album was homework in the Prog & Fusion Album Club in February 2011 .. But of course anyone ican join in the discussion!
Here's a little info about the album :
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lisnaholic
Passport - Cross Collateral (1975)
Back in 1970, the accomplished German sax/keyboard player Klaus Doldinger wanted to combine his jazz playing with the rhythms of rock so he put together his jazz fusion band, Passport. Although there were line-up changes along the way, right through the `70s and into the early `80s, Passport were pumping out albums at a rate of one a year, so this album, Cross Collateral, comes in the middle of a sustained creative streak. It is one of their best-regarded albums, and although KD is credited as composer for the whole album, he is helped out here by synthesizer wizard Kristian Schultze. Together they play some dynamic, sparkling leads while the rest of the band occassionally contribute the kind of riffs that a prog-rock band would die for. On other, more subdued tracks they go for a sound slightly closer to pure jazz.
All in all, this is a very accessible, clean-sounding instrumental album, but just how well KD succeeded in fusing jazz and rock would be for us to decide.
I'm sorry, but with my trip to Iceland and so on, I haven't had time to listen to much music so I don't have a very well educated opinion on this record just yet. What I have heard sounds pretty gorgeous though so I know I like it, but I'll have to come back later to give a full score.
Homunculus is a lovely piece So's the excellent title track!
Thirty-five years after it`s first release, this album still sounds fresh to me, probably because of all the changes of tempo and lead instruments from track to track. Sometimes the tone is of a mellow sax; at other times we hear the crystal-clear notes of the synthesizer, but all the way through the album there is a tight structure and plenty of action, which gives it a cohesive feel.
Of course the 13-minute title track is the stand out, with its rolling momentum that holds the different sections of the piece together. The playing is intense from start to finish on this track and on the next one too, Jadoo.
The tracks that follow,Will-O-The-Wisp and Albatross Song have a great funky sound that remind me of Herbie Hancoc`s Headhunters, which had been released two years before, while the last track, Damals is at a slower pace.
I still love this album, so it gets a "Brilliant" from me. If I were to find fault with anything, it would be with the running order of the album, which bunches the most powerful tracks up together and leaves the simpler last track hanging on like it was just an after-thought.
This album is really good I'm a little disappointed there hasn't been more replies yet.
My favourites are still the first two tracks, Homonculus and the title track. They're both in very familiar fusion land for anyone who's heard a bit from the fusion greats like Return to Forever or Weather Report. Jadoo also gets a thumb up for being so 70s cool. Great stuff!
Right now, my favourites crowd around the opening of the album and the final three are a bit lacking compared to the first three, but they're still all good songs so I'm gonna give this a very good. Perhaps this way of ranking songs is typical when listen to the songs in order, so my preference for the earlier tracks could change in the future. This album is definetly going in my fusion rotation.
It makes me wonder a bit why I haven't heard Passport before .. Is this album indicative of the quality and sound of their other albums?
Very glad to hear that you liked this album, tore.
IRL, I have only ever heard one person mention the band Passport; in England they just seemed to sink without a trace, and now they appear to be enjoying the same fate on MB.
On the Amazon website you can read quite a few opinions about them, of course, and the general verdict is that Cross-Collateral was one of their best efforts.
Working backwards from 1975`s Cross-Collateral album, I now have their album from the previous year, Looking Thru`. The personnel is the same for both albums, so it`s not surprising that the sound is similar. The tracks on Looking Thru` have the same tightness of construction and execution, but are perhaps closer to jazz than rock. None of the tracks disappoint and while the track Rockport is instantly catchy, there isn`t anything on this album which quite rises to the heights of the Cross-Collateral title track, IMO.
Working furthur back, to 1973 this time, I found a live-in-the-studio clip of Schirokko which comes from Passport`s album of that year, entitled Doldinger. The band members aren`t the same on this album, and in fact this track features two drummers, whose short but intense duel half-way through, make this clip worth watching.
Last edited by Lisnaholic; 03-08-2011 at 05:27 PM.
Reason: with new, improved research !
Very Good. The band's best IMO. Klaus Doldinger is a very talented saxist, composer and arranger. Thier first six albums are very well done, especially the first and Cross-Colleteral. The band lost me after 1976. A very underrated prog/jazz fusion band.
I enjoyed this album a lot. (Glad I spotted the PFAC homework in the Thread Graveyard.) It fits in well to my current exploration of all things fusion. I liked their use of synthesisers especially. I thought they used them well without going off the deep end like some Sun Ra I've heard. I think they had enough fresh angles to make this a noteworthy album. Belated thanks to PFAC and Lisnaholic for bringing it to my attention.
Passport - Cross Collateral (1975)
Linear Mode
