Fusioon - 1974 - Fusioon 2

Fusioon

1974

Fusioon 2

01. Farsa Del Buen Vivir (3:08)
02. Contraste (6:32)
03. Tritons (8:15)
04. Dialogos (6:42)
05. Concerto Grosso (9:52)

Santi Arisa / percussion, drums
Jordi Camp / bass
Marti Brunet / guitar, synthesizer
Manel Camp / piano, organ

Fusioon's second album sees the band tighten the ship a bit and there's more focus on a Canterbury like sound. Vocals have been added effectively as well. A very fine album, that fits perfectly between their first and last albums.

The second Fusioon album (also called Crocodile) is quite a different affair than the debut mostly because of its less fusion-esque spirit, but it is likely to please many progheads because of its main influence: Gentle Giant. This mimetism is even a little too derivative IMHO, regardless of that fact, the album is impressive nonetheless.

As far as I am concerned we are dealing with the second best GG album not made by GG themselves. Not far behind Quebec's Etcetera's sole album but well ahead of Germany's Epidermis's debut album, GG is not the only influence presented here, but certainly the most dominant one. Among which I will list Gryphon, The Nice and Yes, but maybe a bit of jazz-rock (Soft Machine) also.

Again a mainly instrumental album (I estimate the singing or vocal parts to less than 15%), all of the tracks are penned by the Camp brothers (mostly Manel the KB man) which in itself is quite a departure from their earlier effort. The entirely instrumental (bar the final vocal chords) and very classical multi-movement suite Tritons (which contains a Tcaikovski variation) is clearly a highlight but personally I like Dialogos as my favourite with its impressive and dark start. A similar start for the other multi-movement suite Concerto Grosso, but the track falls a bit short on the inspiration front and by this time, I must admit I am a bit saturated from the GG bombardment.

Personally (and unlike the majority of progheads) I prefer this album to the following Minorisa even if that one is less derivative of classic prog groups.