(jazz, fusion, hard progressive) Shadowfax - Watercourse Way - 1975, FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Reviewer Greenback:
This record contains a VERY unusual, varied & complex music: it is hard rock, progressive, jazz and fusion. The influences are MULTIPLE: the numerous hard rock electric guitar solos remind me a bit the Steve Hillage's and John Goodsall's solos. The omnipresent piano is ALWAYS excellent: it sometimes sounds a bit like the Robin Lumley's piano of the 70's (Brand X). There are many excellent sax, flute, clarinet, acoustic guitars and sitar parts, often played during the mellower bits. The keyboards mostly consist in piano, moog and harpsichord.
Reviewer The Owl:
From the 'burbs of Chicago came Shadowfax, wielding a virtual warehouse of instruments and a love of many styles of music. While not terribly original, this album does contain some very worthwhile and intriguing musical moments. The overall flavor of this album for me seems to be, "Look, we can cover a LOT of stylistic ground!" Yes, they definitely do, but somehow, one senses a lack of clear direction, something of course that changed when they regrouped in the early 80's and went the new-age/world music path. Here, they lay some of the groundwork for what would become their ticket to getting signed with Windham Hill.
1. “Shape of a Word” - Definitely takes its cues from the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Relayer-period Yes in a huge way, the ominous arpeggiated edgy guitars, spacey keyboards, jarring time and meter changes etc. What the tune lacks though is a strong melodic thread to tie it together, giving it a very fragmented feel, though it does feature some very beautiful piano work by Doug Maluchnik.
2. “Linear Dance” - I wasn't sure whether to laugh at this or groan, a rather disjointed patchwork of herky-jerky rhythms and some of the most ridiculous wanky lyrics I've ever heard! And the vocals, VERRRRY BAAAAAAAAD IDEA!!! Songs like this were why some people got turned off to prog. But just as things look grim there's an unexpected segue into-----
3. “Petite Aubade” - If you didn't know, someone hearing this would think, "IS THIS THE SAME BAND?" Yup, it is, as the guys unplug most of the way into a beautiful and complex acoustic piece that jumps through 3 very distinct and unrelated musical genres. They start off with a very brief ominous modern classical sort of thing (with stern bass clarinet and dissonant Chamberlin strings) then leaping into Romantic period musings with flute, rippling piano and nylon-string guitar (this section flows together quite beautifully) and then, going back a few hundred years for some stately Renaissance-period ruminating, the highlight here is woodwind maestro Chuck Greenberg's multiple recorders weaving their melodious magic, quite a charming section, with guitarist Greg Stinson providing passionate counterpoint on his classical guitar with Maluchnik's harpsichord adding the necessary punctuations.
4. “Book of Hours” - For my money, the best electric piece on the album, starting off with shimmering layers of synths, guitars and percussion, the band then kicks into a bass clarinet-led strident groove, building up a frenetic pace and then, segueing into an emotionally charged soprano sax soliloquy backed by sitar and piano. Chuck Greenberg plays his heart out here and practically blows out his sax reed and lungs in the process, then the band roars back in for a dramatic close.
5. “Watercourse Way” - Someone's been listening to A LOT of Oregon here!! The complex interweaving 12-string guitar, the forlorn oboe, exotic percussion and acoustic bass are all here. The tune does have a fairly strong melodic thread but the obvious cop of Oregon's style can be a bit much, afterall, Oregon were doing this a few years before Shadowfax appeared. Very well played without question but somewhat disappointing in the respect it lacks originality.
6. “Song for My Brother” - A strong closer, a passionate rock ballad with guitarist Greg E Stinson playing his heart out and weaving compelling melodies as his bandmates paint in the colors.
Not groundbreaking by any means but still has some good moments that a prog fan can sink their teeth into and enjoy. And bonus cool points for the ORIGINAL cover painting. My recommendation, track down the original Passport vynil release and avoid the heavily altered and somewhat dumbed down Windham Hill reissue.

2807552550 79674044 01 - The Shape Of A Word.wav
3296976670 62351564 02 - Linear Dance.wav
330473486 63751004 03 - Petit Aubade.wav
3261649674 70477724 04 - Book Of Hours.wav
21187780 64463660 05 - Watercourse Way.wav
2285000843 102634268 06 - Song For My Brother.wav
auCDtect: CD records authenticity detector, version 0.8.2
Copyright (c) 2004 Oleg Berngardt. All rights reserved.
Copyright (c) 2004 Alexander Djourik. All rights reserved.
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Processing file: [01 - The Shape Of A Word.wav]
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This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%
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Processing file: [02 - Linear Dance.wav]
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This track looks like CDDA with probability 99%
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Processing file: [03 - Petit Aubade.wav]
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Processing file: [04 - Book Of Hours.wav]
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Processing file: [05 - Watercourse Way.wav]
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This track looks like CDDA with probability 100%
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Processing file: [06 - Song For My Brother.wav]
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Final Conclusion:
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These tracks looks like CDDA with probability 100%