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Thread: Scope - 70s Dutch fusion

  1. #1
    Member nosebone's Avatar
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    Scope - 70s Dutch fusion

    Nice Funky fusion similar to Isotope, George Duke, Nucleus etc.

    no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone

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    Member rapidfirerob's Avatar
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    Nice. I just discovered Solution. Their first album should land any day now.

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    Member LASERCD's Avatar
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    Tried to reissue the two Scope albums. It was like banging my head against a wall.

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    That's Mr. to you, Sir!! Trane's Avatar
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    I'll see if I can score a vinyl copy in used record shop in Holland
    my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.

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    Some works of the related Rob Franken Keyboard Circle was released on CD a few years back. Henk Zomer was the drummer in both bands. He 's still active in the Dutch jazz scene. Rob Franken was Scope's keyboard player in the final line-up. He died in 1983.

  6. #6
    Member nosebone's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by rapidfirerob View Post
    Nice. I just discovered Solution. Their first album should land any day now.

    I have Solution s/t & Divergence on one CD.
    Great Canterbury vibe there.
    no tunes, no dynamics, no nosebone

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    Quote Originally Posted by LASERCD View Post
    Tried to reissue the two Scope albums. It was like banging my head against a wall.
    Why Ken?

  8. #8
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    Passport minus the sax + guitar?

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    No, nothing like Passport. Scope I is great while Scope II is much "smoother". While I grew up with Scope II so I love it, most of my fellow fusioneers will find it too smooth.

  10. #10
    Member rapidfirerob's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by nosebone View Post
    I have Solution s/t & Divergence on one CD.
    Great Canterbury vibe there.
    I read in the liner notes to Solution that Tom Barlage's tune Divergence on the second album
    was adopted by Focus for Eruption and retitled Tommy for the suite. I knew Barlage's name
    was awfully familiar when I saw Solution's members listed.

  11. #11
    Member interbellum's Avatar
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    The first two albums have just been released on CD by the German reissue-label Sireena Records

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by nosebone View Post
    I have Solution s/t & Divergence on one CD.
    Great Canterbury vibe there.
    There was a really good compilation available on a cheap CD with both of those first two Solution CDs omitting a tune from each, sporting really stupendous sound and everything - 'The Gold Collection' or something. Splendid jazz-rock with an obvious Canterbury slant, yes - but less eclectic and satirical and sophisticated than Supersister. I remember an old Dutch acquaintance of mine in the 90s who told me they were quite popular on the live circuit back then, and Tom Barlage, their saxophone-player, leader and main songwriter rose to "fame" for having written the tune "Divergence" - which became "Tommy" in Focus' "Eruption" suite, apparently influenced by Ratledge's legendary "Slightly All The Time" motif. All in all this is a fantastic little package to get, although Solution were far more of a straight-out jazz-rock combo than some of their counterparts like Pantheon's Orion or the fantastic Het Pandorra.

    As for Scope, I saw some retailers having them up for sale now. While they're absolutely worth getting for period completist and ardent fans of 70s fusion, I always felt about them as I did with those two impossible-to-get Ananga Ranga releases from Portugal, or about Moose Loose from Norway for that matter; excellent for what they are, but you need to know this style to truly appreciate it.
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  13. #13
    I wonder if I like them now. When I was younger, I listened to them in the library, but it didn't click with me. But the same goes for The Flock, which I like now.

  14. #14
    Listening to the first album on YouTube, thinking: "Why didn't I like this when I was younger?"

  15. #15
    Member FrippWire's Avatar
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    I'm a fan and total sucker for anything with "that sound".

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    I purchased Scope II in '75 and thought it was okay. A little too straightforward, lite funk which got old quickly for me (enough Frisky Frog Funk & Shuffle Funk Dog for me). I enjoyed Solution a lot and beyond the Dutch scene I liked Isotope, Gary Boyle and, for more intensity, Passport. All three Isotope albums are very good, especially Illusion with Hugh Hopper.

  17. #17
    Member interbellum's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Scrotum Scissor View Post
    There was a really good compilation available on a cheap CD with both of those first two Solution CDs omitting a tune from each, sporting really stupendous sound and everything - 'The Gold Collection' or something. Splendid jazz-rock with an obvious Canterbury slant, yes - but less eclectic and satirical and sophisticated than Supersister. I remember an old Dutch acquaintance of mine in the 90s who told me they were quite popular on the live circuit back then, and Tom Barlage, their saxophone-player, leader and main songwriter rose to "fame" for having written the tune "Divergence" - which became "Tommy" in Focus' "Eruption" suite, apparently influenced by Ratledge's legendary "Slightly All The Time" motif. All in all this is a fantastic little package to get, although Solution were far more of a straight-out jazz-rock combo than some of their counterparts like Pantheon's Orion or the fantastic Het Pandorra.
    The first time I saw Solution was in October 1976. The year before they had released Cordon Bleu, still one of my favourites. Anyway, they played in a very small club, which was in fact a bar. A few years later (March 1980), after the release of ...It's Only Just Begun... (featuring Jan Akkerman on one track), a much more pop/fusion-affair, the stage was the central hall of the city hall. It seemed a promotion, but for me the small club-gig was a lot more fun.

  18. #18
    ^ I listened again to them this very evening, Interbellum, and I have to say that it's a really, really good collection of wholly unpretentious songs and jams. These aren't trying to "be" anything more than what they obviously are. Pedestrian but fully tolerable vocals, intimately straightforward arrangements but very, very well executed. Placebo - who were awesome! - did this exact thing in Belgium but with bonafide jazz-folx to the fore, resulting in a totally different historical reception.
    "Improvisation is not an excuse for musical laziness" - Fred Frith
    "[...] things that we never dreamed of doing in Crimson or in any band that I've been in," - Tony Levin speaking of SGM

  19. #19
    The first one from Scope is really good. The bad production adds to the album's charm (because jazz rock with a funky edge was becoming to sound slick at the times). The second one always disappointed me...
    Macht das ohr auf!

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  20. #20
    Great stuff. I'm a sucker for that mid-'70s jazz-rock sound. They were profiled a while back by that '70s guy on YouTube. Warning: he does pause the track here and there for commentary:

  21. #21
    Member Sputnik's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by interbellum View Post
    The first two albums have just been released on CD by the German reissue-label Sireena Records
    I got them very recently, I'm enjoying them. Good funky fusion. So far I think I have a slight preference for the debut, but they're both cool! Right up my alley.

    Bill

  22. #22
    Finally listened to these after decades of curiosity and I have to say...it did not meet my expectations. There’s just so, so, so much Euro-fusion exactly like this, it does nothing to distinguish itself.
    Confirmed Bachelors: the dramedy hit of 1883...

  23. #23
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    Quote Originally Posted by Progbear View Post
    Finally listened to these after decades of curiosity and I have to say...it did not meet my expectations. There’s just so, so, so much Euro-fusion exactly like this, it does nothing to distinguish itself.
    I get where you're coming from, I wouldn't necessarily put this on the A-List either. The thing I like about these is that they are chops forward without being a chopsfest. And they don't noodle endlessly. The tracks have a good sense of flow and arrangement, with some interesting composed sections that make this lean a bit more in the Prog direction. So for me, they're fun to listen to where so, so much of that Euro-Fusion simply isn't, even if they're not exactly breaking new ground.

    Bill

  24. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Sputnik View Post
    I get where you're coming from, I wouldn't necessarily put this on the A-List either. The thing I like about these is that they are chops forward without being a chopsfest. And they don't noodle endlessly. The tracks have a good sense of flow and arrangement, with some interesting composed sections that make this lean a bit more in the Prog direction. So for me, they're fun to listen to where so, so much of that Euro-Fusion simply isn't, even if they're not exactly breaking new ground.

    Bill
    I think at some points the synthesizer seems to be a bit out of tune. (At least on the first album, I heard on YouTube.)

  25. #25
    Member Sputnik's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Rarebird View Post
    I think at some points the synthesizer seems to be a bit out of tune. (At least on the first album, I heard on YouTube.)
    Yeah, a touch. Mostly on one track on the first album, some of it may have been the dude's note choices as well. Not sure why they didn't re-take that solo. I find that happens with some of the second tier bands, particularly the Spanish groups where there always seems to be something wonky going on with a synth sound or part. It's not out enough to really bug me, but you are right.

    Bill

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