If this is a curiosity, it is more from the hype than the actual music. Admittedly, for far longer than Klaatu, this band's identity has remained a mystery not only to myself but every Big Collector I've ever known of. Hype is, indeed, deserved here: the music, though no prog stunner to bowl you down, is nonetheless fully 70's, both thematically (it's a Concept Album) and musically. For those of us who've listened to enough albums from the past several decades, closing your eyes and picking out any 70's album at random will give it a far better chance of sounding like prog rock than all but the most astutely recorded and skillfully played 80's (and even 90's) "prog rock" releases. The era could do no wrong when it came to properly conceiving, arranging, producing, and (perhaps most importantly) engineering a musical idea or set of them.

The prevailing rumor was that this was Jim Morrison's post-humous project. The vocalist does sound a bit like him, fully alive, much better and no pretension in his subduedly sepulchral voice. Here's the line-up: Phantom (vocals, guitars, piano), X (drums & percussion), Y & W (bass), Z (piano & organ) and Phantom (bag piano, bag guitar). The rhythm section is fairly basic, no bombast is evident anywhere on the record, but the band as a whole are playing some very tasty 70's rock, far more "progressive" and skilled than most of what were forceful attempts to do prog rock in the 80's and even the early 90's. While neither a super-complex, nor odd-time-signatured work, it is rich as a piece of music, fully cohesive and, in the genre of concept albums, may as well be a 39 minute Suite In Nine Parts. Here's the track listing, and, unlike most concept works that ever place one song whose title just doesn't fit in there at all (Black Sabbath's Tyr), take a look at the titles.

Intro: Tales From a Wizard

Prelude: Devil's Child

Calm Before the Storm

Half a Life

Spiders Will Dance (on your face while you sleep)

Wizard: Black Magic/White Magic

Merlin

Entrance: Stand Beside My Fire

Welcome to Hell

Not that it helps do anything but add to the mystique, but here's further credits: All Songs by Phantom; All Songs published by Gear Publishing Co, ASCAP; Engineered by Miz & Troited (the CD printing is a bit hazy on these two names) at Map "A" PA Studios; Mastered by Bob Dennis at HDH Studios; A Hideout Records & Distributors Inc. Production; Capitol/EMI; CD reissue on One Way, 1993 (out of print).

Musically, although I can't place any specific bands this reminds me of, it is fairly somber, clearly mid-70's, uncredited mellotron (#9) and all. There are no weak tracks, no stand-outs. It is one solid, very creative work, and certainly one of my all-time favorite albums.

-Mark Dumke