FEATURED CD - Fireballet : Night On Bald Mountain

[Duncan Glenday]

Per iTunes:

Recorded in the short-lived "stereo-quad" format — which, fortunately, is still quite playable on stereo turntables — Fireballet puts in a credible and often ambitious performance in their debut. Producer Ian McDonald comes out from behind the board to add his talents on flute and sax on a few numbers, too. As one might expect, the use of two keyboardists gives this album a heavy flavoring of Mellotron and especially Moog, and it works to great effect in conveying the sweep of the title piece. At the other extreme is "Atmospheres," a succinct and pleasant piece with arpeggiated guitar and gentle flute, and it effectively summons up the ghosts of Genesis past. Not every experiment works: a narrator nattering on about the "crown's treasury" in "Les Cathedrales" is a bit precious for guys from New Jersey. But still, it's hard not to give credit to a band with the stones to take on a full-fledged, side-long reworking of "Night on Bald Mountain" on their debut.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/ni...ed/id732135041

[Sputnik]

I've honestly never heard this or Two Too in their entirety. I've been patiently waiting for the reissues, which seem to be on track now. The samples I've heard are so-so, some great moments punctuated by some painful moments, of which most of the painful moments came from Two Too, iirc. My sense is Bald Mountain will fare better, and I do plan to pick that one up at least.

Bill

[Supersonic Scientist]

Great album....So lucky to have seen them in 1975 as the warm-up for Black Sabbath @ The Convention Hall in Asbury Park, NJ.

My autographed LP cover is proudly framed and hanging on my studio wall.

[WytchCrypt]

One of my all time fave US prog albums, bought the vinyl back in '77 and played it to death. Got tricked by a Japanese import CD version in the late 90's: thought it was an official release but it turned out to be a fancy CDR of someone's vinyl (though it had less pops and scratches than mine so was still an upgrade). It even had beautiful silk screened album cover art on the CD and a copyright warning to boot...oh well, at least it also included the songs from Two Too - though that's not necessarily a good thing

[Scrotum Scissor]

I much prefer the *interesting* tracks from Two Too to this.

[moecurlythanu]

A decent album, but a pastiche of Big Six sounds, minus a couple bands. Great fun to break out at Prog parties. "Hey kids, which of the Big Six Prog bands does this track sound like? " Much better than 'Two, Too' imo, though.

[Joe F.]

I got rid of the vinyl a long time ago. There were direct lifts from a number of different bands that made it hard for me to enjoy. I seem to recall the "Theme One" melody being one of the "lifts". Can't remember the others anymore. I haven't heard the album in at least 30 years .

I'll most likely re-visit when the reissue comes out.

I also had Two, Too and didn't keep that either.

[Rand Kelly]

I got rid of the vinyl a long time ago. There were direct lifts from a number of different bands that made it hard for me to enjoy. I seem to recall the "Theme One" melody being one of the "lifts". Can't remember the others anymore. I haven't heard the album in at least 30 years .

I'll most likely re-visit when the reissue comes out.

I also had Two, Too and didn't keep that either.

I listened to George Martin's version and Van der Graaf Generator's and Les Cathedrales by Fireballet. I hear what you are saying but the "lift" is pretty subtle. The melody was not copied note for note and there are differences in the chords and the phrasing. Many bands do this. Focus III using Petula Clark's Don't Sleep In The Subway is even more blatant.

[simon moon]

Love it!

Sure they 'borrowed' from the Big whatever, but they do it so well, that I have an easy time excusing them.


Two, Too...not so much...


'Theme One' was composed in 1967 by George Martin for the opening and closing theme of a radio program. I don't remember if VDGG give him credit on the album or not.

[Rand Kelly]

pawnhearts_usa_label.jpg

Love it!

Sure they 'borrowed' from the Big whatever, but they do it so well, that I have an easy time excusing them.


Two, Too...not so much...


'Theme One' was composed in 1967 by George Martin for the opening and closing theme of a radio program. I don't remember if VDGG give him credit on the album or not.

[Bake 1]

1975 ...check out 6:40 to about 8:40



1972 ...

[Trane]

I believe that Fireballet is one of my last (and relatively rare) ignorance spot of importance about the 70's... It 's about time I correct that

I believe that their albums are not legit CD reissued, right??

[Zalmoxe]

But it is about to be released legitimately by Belle Antique and Inner Knot. See Tom's blog post on this topic.

[Larry Canary]

I believe that Fireballet is one of my last (and relatively rare) ignorance spot of importance about the 70's... It 's about time I correct that

It's worthwhile to check out Night on Bald Mountain, just don't expect too much. But McDonald's sax break about 5 or 6 minutes into the title cut is sublime.

[J. D. Mack]

An interesting thing to note about this album - it was released as a quadraphonic album only. There was no separate stereo mix so the new CD issue will have the QS quadraphonic encoding intact. So if you have a QS quad decoder, or own an old version of Adobe Audition (v. 1.5, 2 or 3) and the QS decoding script, you can hear this in glorious 4-channel surround sound. You can also get some sort of surround effect with Dolby Pro Logic II, though it won't be exactly how the album was mixed.

[Rand Kelly]

An interesting thing to note about this album - it was released as a quadraphonic album only. There was no separate stereo mix so the new CD issue will have the QS quadraphonic encoding intact. So if you have a QS quad decoder, or own an old version of Adobe Audition (v. 1.5, 2 or 3) and the QS decoding script, you can hear this in glorious 4-channel surround sound. You can also get some sort of surround effect with Dolby Pro Logic II, though it won't be exactly how the album was mixed.

Dolby Pro Logic II is like a box of chocolates...you never know what you're gonna get.

[Brian Griffin]

You can also get some sort of surround effect with Dolby Pro Logic II, though it won't be exactly how the album was mixed.

I'm playing this in PLII as I type, not a very convincing surround effect this way

BG

[mogrooves]

I knew these guys when they were The Fireball Kids (I briefly dated Frank Petto's sister); we all attended Genesis' debut American performance and were suitably blown out. I appreciated their ambition but always felt they were out of their depth; just not quite up to it, not quite there. "A" for effort, though.