Shadowfax
Watercourse Way

Shadowfax
Watercourse Way
1976 Passport Records

I would like to bring this release, dating back to the distant 1976, to someone's attention.
Shadowfax, a great American prog jazz rock band.
This is their first instrumental album and it's anything but an easy listen.
Let's start with the first track, The Shape of a Word, definitely unconventional but
with great atmosphere, excellent bass and drum grooves.
The whole thing is seasoned with solos and guitar phrases that are typically '70s in sound, in addition
there are flute and piano enriching the piece.
Linear Dance seems to be a playful title, as it has a highly sophisticated structure with
a spoken vocal line in the background, a truly strange and bizarre track.
The skill of the bass and drums emerges again.
The course changes for Petite Aubade, a classical composition with piano and flute solo
at the beginning, then classical guitar and oboe enter creating a medieval moment.
A very pleasant track that demonstrates a certain musical competence from the group.
Now comes Book of Hours, a great progressive rock track, in which the guitar phrases
underneath the rhythm with mastery.
Excellent piano and sitar interlude in the middle of the piece, the band proves itself more
and more eclectic and experimental.
We arrive at the title track Watercourse Way, an acoustic piece accompanied by tabla and various percussion
creating an ambient situation.
The whole has an exotic, very refined flavor.
The last piece is Song for my Brother, very melancholic with a gradual crescendo, in which the
guitar creates tasteful and appropriate phrases.
The band focuses a lot on suspended and ethereal sounds, with great dynamics from all instruments.
The track gradually dissolves with a stunning piano solo that then gives way
to the guitar with the last melody.
Conclusions: one could define this work as true art; I mean that even though it is sophisticated
and quite complex, it is pleasant to listen to.
It is extremely refined music, perhaps not everyone can understand it, but for me, it is sublime.

review by Angelowar6