East of Eden
Snafu

One of the subgenres I appreciate the most from the '70s Prog is the so-called "Exotic Progressive", a branch that blends the typical sound of Genesis and Yes with ethnic, especially oriental sounds. Among the most important names, the first that come to mind are the Third Ear Band or the Italian Aktuala, and, my favorite, East of Eden, who can be defined as the precursors of this genre.

The group is led by Dave Arbus (violin, saxophone, flute, bagpipes), and also consists of Ron Cainess (saxophone, organ), Geoff Nicholson (guitar, vocals), Steve York on bass and Dave Dufont on drums and percussion. A year after the excellent debut of "Mercator Projected" released in 1969, the quintet releases "Snafu", more homogeneous, mature, and courageous than the previous one. Even the public noticed, propelling the album to the 29th position in the sales charts, an extraordinary result for a "niche" group like them.

An interesting fact about the songs (and that links the group to Caravan) is that the songs are divided into parts with their own name, but the "collective" track does not have a specified title. The opener is quite misleading: "Have to Whack It Up" is an hard-blues with violin just over 2 minutes bland and quite insignificant compared to the tracks that will follow. Quite another thing is the instrumental "Leaping beauties for Rudy/ Marcus junior" which starts by presenting a duet between 2 saxophones and the drums before the arrival of the dominant guitar riff followed closely by the other instruments. Already from this piece, one can understand what characterizes this group: in the background, Arbus's violin is in frenetic activity, while the winds decorate with free jazz-Arabesque solos in turn. Next is "Xhorkham/ Ramadham/ In the snow for a blow" which opens with the reversed tape of "Traditional" that closes the album; the second part, a tribute to John Coltrane, is very evocative and it almost seems, thanks to the percussion and the flute, to see the sunlit Arabian desert as in a mirage; it then flows into the third part, where another great, Charles Mingus, is paid homage, and among the solos, duets and various tempo changes, there is also room for a brief drum solo. Next is "Uno Transito Clapori", a track composed only of superimposed reversed tapes, intending to recreate the effect of "bees trapped in an iron lung". The first time you hear it, it will surprise you, the second time it will annoy you, by the third you will be forced to skip it. In "Gum arabic/ Confucius", the flute dominates the scene in the first minutes before passing the baton to the sax and concluding in a musical anarchy in which each instrument overlaps the other. "Nymphenburger" is the apotheosis of Arbus, who overdubs his violin six times simultaneously; the track alternates continuously between melancholic sung parts and solo sections, in which for the first (and last) time in the album there is also a guitar solo. The track was also released as a single, but it did not reach the popularity of their most famous single, "Jig-a-Jig", from the following year. Positioned at 7 we find "Habibi baby/ Beast of Sweden/ Boehm constrictor" which almost touches the territories of musical avant-garde, thanks to a central part that is pure cacophony, before diving back into the usual organized disorder to which the group has now accustomed us, and concluding with the reprise of the "Nymphenburger" theme significantly varied. The above-mentioned "Traditional" closes, an American song from the '30s, only piano and voice, a device often used in prog records to lighten the atmosphere.

In the end, disparate elements and a lot of eccentricity perfectly amalgamated make this album worthy of entering the Olympus of Progressive.

SCORE = 8