The Fusion Reactor #81 - Isle of Rhodes

The Rhodes piano, that is. We had a Hammond B3 feature a while back, and I'm contemplating a Clavinet show sometime in the future. We'll see if that one works out (suggestions anyone?). If you can excuse the piles of bad puns, you'll find some interesting music here, mostly of the fusion vein but with occasional forays into prog. See disclaimer at the bottom.

Gilgamesh - Isle of Rhodes (Arriving Twice)
A good tune from an interesting band. Officially this was an album of studio outtakes and rehearsals, but I think it rivals or even surpasses the officially released versions of these songs. The moods are more introspective here and they aren't afraid to experiment a bit.

Passport - Ostinato (Infinity Machine)
While this is not most Rhodes-soaked song on the show, it's got some really cool riffs and soloing. It seems that with just the first two songs, we've captured the essence of what The Fusion Reactor is all about. But that doesn't mean we can't or shouldn't move on to explore different territory.

Guapo - Mictlan (Five Suns)
See? The Rhodes is not just the territory of jazz-rock and fusion. It's not always bright and happy. It can be rather dark and foreboding too. And that's not necessarily a bad thing, is it?

Upright - Maverick (Opinion)
It's always a pleasure to play songs from really cool bands that aren't on most people's radar. Upright is one of those bands. I don't know lots about them, except that it's pretty much the guitarist's project and they adhere to a very nice fusion sound. It's another one of many tunes to also feature saxophone on this show.

Electromagnets - Minus Mufflers (Electromagnets)
Effects aren't just for guitars anymore! The Rhodes sounds great with phasers, flangers, chorus, distortion, wah and basically anything else you can imagine. Electromagnets didn't employ bunches of synths in their music, it was just a Rhodes in various stages of sonic tweaking. I heard someone call this band "the American answer to Mahavishnu Orchestra" and that's not too far off. (Except that Jerry Gooman is American.) Yep, it's another sax track.

Finnforest - Alpha (Lähtö Matkalle)
Finland's Finnforest made some really tasty fusion on their first two albums. I haven't heard their third, but I've heard it's different. You're probably noticing that unless you only give the keyboard player a Rhodes(see Electromagnets above), it's hard to keep them from switching around to the piano, Hammond or whatever synth happens to be lying around. The solo is pure Rhodes on this one though.

Isotope - Do the Business (Live at the BBC)
I guess Isotope goes in the same category as Gilgamesh - "short-lived but very creative Canterbury band." With Gary Boyle at the helm - and the guitar - they churned out some rather intense and funky jams. This is one of those, captured live at the BBC. Hence the name of the CD.

The Muffins - Not Alone (Open City)
While The Muffins are known for their experimental nature, this song is fairly laid-back and straightforward during its entire thirteen and a half minute duration. That doesn't make it any less tasty to listen to. Sax Alert! This takes its place on this show as the Fusion Epic.

Schleigho - Go Children Slow (Continent)
Jesse Gibbon is the keyboard monster of this band, and while they're very much a fusion band, he very much adheres to the Rick Wakeman/Keith Emerson style of playing with multiple keyboards. He surrounds himself with a Clavinet (usually in different stages of disrepair), a Hammond B3 in a funky homemade cabinet with a huge leslie, and a Rhodes - again, with various effects plugged into it. While he doesn't normally play more than one at a time, it's hard to keep him on one for the entire song. This is a nice Rhodes workout.

Brand X - Running Of Three (Unorthodox Behaviour)
If someone asks you what fusion is, you could do worse than to play them some Brand X. There's lots of keyboard switching in this one, so I guess it's not the best example of the Rhodes but I think the song itself makes up for that.

Simon Apple - The Colours In Between (River To the Sea)
While not the most out-there progressive song in the world, this is quite a nice Rhodes-driven song. Look out! You might find yourself singing it 24 hours later... I did. River To the Sea is a concept album, and it helps to know that if you're trying to understand the lyrics to this one.

Return To Forever - Crystal Silence (Return To Forever)
Ahh. That's nice. Not the frenetic stuff you'd expect from the RTF name, but something rather mellow and relaxing instead. Although at the same time it's deep and engaging. Chick Corea can sure make the electric piano sing, can't he? (Sax Alert!)

Herbie Hancock - Sly (Head Hunters)
I don't think Rhodes would be where it is today is it weren't for this guy. No, he wasn't the first to use it, and he didn't use it anywhere near exclusively, but it's just the way he uses it. It seems to me he broke new ground in the voicings of the instrument. Nice stuff to get your blood pumping again after the last song. (Sax Alert!)

Supertramp - Child of Vision (Breakfast In America)
I remember hearing this for the first time and being stunned at the use of keyboards in it. Not that it's all that complex, it's just that they are so well layered that the sound just comes at you like a wall of kayboards. It hits you full on, and you don't mind one bit. One of the many keyboards you'll hear in this one is a Rhodes. (Sax Alert!)

Machine and the Synergetic Nuts - Monaco (Leap Second Neutral)
Goodness! This is some intense stuff! It's a good thing this song is only two and a half minutes long or I think they'd be in danger of causing heart attacks all over the world just by playing it. Yes, there's a lot of Hammond in this one too - see note above about keyboard players who can't stay put. (Sax Alert!)

Gong - Mireille (Gazeuse!)
I guess this is mostly a Rhodes and acoustic guitar duet. Perhaps it would have made a nice closer, but I wanted to close with something else. I don't have the liner notes in front of me right now, but as I recall this Rhodes might be uncredited. From the name, I'm guessing it might be Mireille Bauer.

Gentle Giant - Proclamation (The Power and the Glory)
This is another song with a bunch of different instruments, making it hard to focus on just one. Regardless, there is some Rhodes in there, you just might have to listen closely to hear it other than in the intro before everything else kicks in.


Disclaimer: I was not there in the studio when any of these songs were recorded. I only used my ears and if I heard an electric piano, I called it a Rhodes. I'm well aware that Wurlitzer and Yamaha (and probably others) have made electric pianos, but the Fender Rhodes is the most famous so that's what I went with. For all I know, a few of these might have been synths pretending to be an electric piano, but it doesn't sound like it to me.