Trollheart

Album title: Marsupilami
Artist: Marsupilami
Nationality: French, no English in fact.
Label: Transatlantic
Chronology: Debut
Tracklisting: Dorian Deep/Born to be Free/And the Eagle Chased the Dove to its Ruin/Ab Inito Ad Finem/Facilis Descensus Averni
Comments: These guys went one better than Goliath, and had two albums before calling it a day. Given that they were French, and there were really few French prog bands around in the early seventies (Gong being a standout exception of course) maybe they just couldn’t gain the attention they felt they deserved. Oh no wait, they weren’t. French, that is. I got confusticated there. They’re English, they is. Well maybe they were just crap. The truth will be revealed when we return.

We’ve returned.

Nothing is short here, with tracks running from just under six minutes up to beyond ten, and “Dorain Deep” opens with a sound of whistling wind and then a church organ allied to a chanting voice, some flute and well to be fair this sounds pretty tight. Good guitar work, a certain sense of psych rock in the music, and though there’s a good slice of jamming here, even in the opener, which runs short of eight minutes, it’s well executed and gives an idea of early Santana in places. The copious flute does not, for once, evoke the cavorting figure of Ian Anderson, as Marsupilami use it much differently, thanks to the talents of Jessica Stanley-Clarke. I would have to say I have an issue with the vocals of Fred Hasson, who doesn’t make himself too understandable, and it may be another case of decent music which suffered on the back of inadequate singing.

It’s kind of like listening to a cross between Eldritch, a restrained Iggy Pop and a totally zoned-out Nick Cave, taking the worst elements of each, in terms of vocals. Can’t say anything bad about the music, but unfortunately when someone’s singing it’s that which you end up concentrating on. Guitarist Dave Laverock certainly knows his stuff though, and is ably assisted by Leary Hasson (brother to Fred?) on the organ. Nice work on the harmonica, recalling early Supertramp, thanks to the other Hasson. Maybe he would have been better sticking to that and leaving the vocals to someone else. I would have to say though that I didn’t mark the transition from the first track to the second, and “Born to be Free” sounds more like a continuation of the opener than anything else. I’m sure it isn’t, it’s just there isn’t a sufficient demarcation between the two. Nice backing vocals, I think from Ms. Stanley-Clarke, though they’re right at the end.

There’s a powerful guitar opening to “And the Eagle Chased the Dove to its Ruin”, slowing down then on Jessica’s flute into a pastoral kind of thing, and the slow, dark passage with the organ and the almost sepulchral singing works very well. The last two tracks (already?) are the longest, and I’m just beginning to wonder if Marsupilami were the architects of their own downfall, trying to run before they could walk? I mean, who puts an opera (in one track) on their debut album? Well, these guys did and they seem to have put everything into it, with the opening minute alone containing bird sounds, squelching sound of feet walking, thick organ intro and the sounds of breathing. Some very tribal drums then and so far no vocals, which I’m grateful for, but doubt can remain the case. Flute now joining in and adding a lush layer to the melody, then the guitar takes over in a fine display.

Believe it or not, that takes us to the seventh minute, as the organ begins a slow, stately march before the guitar again flies all over the place. I’m considering the possibility now that this may, despite my misgivings, be an instrumental, which would be great. Well that was, to coin a phrase, awesome. Just shows what these guys could do if Hasson shut up. The final track is almost as long, another Latin phrase - “Facilis Descensus Averni” - I think that’s something falls easily? Anyway it’s a lot more frenetic and sort of improvisational than the previous one, with lots of unfettered organ and urgent, humming sort of percussion running through it. Not so much in the way of vocals, though at this stage we’re only about a third of the way through. Jessica Stanley-Clarke’s flute takes over then, slowing everything down really nicely, before Laverock’s guitar picks up the threads and the pace quickens again.

Then we have a spoken word piece, with thereafter the guitar acquiring quite an edge, and organ and percussion pulling the track into its sixth minute; the vocal when it comes back is not really too grating this time, and there’s some nice what sounds like Spanish guitar in the last minute or so. I’m just not quite sure what the guys were trying to achieve here, and I’m left a little baffled and actually feeling slightly dizzy.


Favourite track(s): Kind of liked everything, despite the singing
Least favourite track(s):
Overall impression: Hard to say. A lot of it is enjoyable, but it’s pretty dense and sometimes a bit difficult to separate the sounds. Very ambitious, but perhaps overly so? I’m not quite sure the world was ready for this in 1970.
Personal Rating:

End result: another Clinging to driftwood I think.

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