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Borealis - Son Of The Sea (1972)

Track listing:
  1. In The End 2:32
  2. Broke 3:17
  3. Sons Of The Sea 3:52
  4. Higher 3:26
  5. Another Boy 5:08
  6. Business 4:45
  7. The Politician 3:31
  8. Old Age 3:02
  9. Tomorrow Morning 5:20
  10. Lucky Day 3:08
  11. Professor Fuddle's Fantastic Fairy Tale Machine (Bonus) 3:02
  12. Rain's My Name (Bonus) 2:07
  13. Witch's Chant (Bonus) 2:11
  14. Philomel (Bonus) 2:42
  15. Dancing Master's Jig (Bonus) 1:44
  16. Indigo Evening (Bonus) 2:46
  17. Counting Comparision (Bonus) 2:39
  18. Sonnet Song (Bonus) 2:47
  19. The Opera Cracks The Bell (Bonus) 1:53

Notes

Japan 24-Bit Remaster

A very obscure band, from somewhere in the Maritimes, with an album that became more accessible in 1992 because of a counterfeit reissue.

Their album is in general amateurish and suffers in the composition level from lack of inspiration. Their nadir is the awful Old Age with an inconsistent melody line and out of tune vocals in parts, but fortunately the rest of the tracks are not that bad. In fact there are some good enough compositions like the mid-tempo, organ-dominated Business, the slow and melodic The End and the more hypnotic Tomorrow Morning which is reminiscent of It's A Beautiful Day. The heavier tracks like Song For The Sea, Broke and The Politician are not so distinctive, but Long Day, which sounds similar to Bent Wind, and the psychedelic (with a garage/basement feel) Higher featuring lots of fuzz guitar leads, are satisfying.

PROFESSOR FUDDLE'S FANTASTIC FAIRY TALE MACHINE (1974) - A short-lived seventies outfit from Toronto, Ontario. Paul Bradbury, who was also in Borealis, composed the entire music score and all the lyrics for this album, aside for segments of Witch's Chant, Philomel and The Sonnet Song, which were adapted from Shakespeare. The title cut is quite psychedelic with sound effects as is Indigo Evening. Dancing Master's Jig is precisely as the title suggests, but Counting Companion is a throwaway cut. A short but unusual album, with a total playing time of twenty four minutes!

Full title - Borealis & Professor Fuddle's Fantastic Fairy Tale Machine - 'Sons of The Sea' Two rare psych- prog vinyl on 1 CD ('72 & '73) High quality paper sleeve with booklet in PVC outbox, limited 1000 copies "Super rare Canadian 1972 psych album, which features excellent keyboard work and fuzz guitar. Also includes the full album of the post Borealis - Professor Fuddle's Fantastic Fairy Tale Machine formed by Borealis vocalist Paul Bradbury"

Borealis were a Canadian quartet (Paul Bradbury, Wayne Sturge, Mark Bradbury and David Hillier) who had the dubious honour of recording the first rock album in the Atlantic province of their home country. The year was 1972 and at that time the region was somewhat uninterested in anything other than the standard fair of country or folk music. Nevertheless, the group did score a hit of sorts, the single, and first cut on the album, In The End made it into the top ten in St Johns, Newfoundland for two months, possibly because, as the liner notes state "it was the least jarring to the region's many country fans". The song is fairly untypical of the rest of the ten-track album being a mid-tempo number with upfront vocals, gentle guitar and a wash of keyboards in the background. Rather lovely by all accounts.

Unfortunately the parent album, Sons Of The Sea, failed to take off, mainly because of lack of promotion by both band and record company confining the LP to the bargain bins and subsequently onto the shelves of collectors of obscure 70s bands. The majority of the remainder of the original album tracks are dominated by keyboards with some nice flourishes of guitar interceding every now and then. There is a tendency for things to start sounding rather similar, mainly because the keyboard sounds don't vary very much, although that is not to say the tracks are not without individual merit. When there is a greater degree of variety, as in Higher for example, things start to get more interesting, with the guitarist putting his stamp nicely on proceedings. Old Age dispenses with the keyboards entirely which makes it stand out somewhat, although this track suffers from rather twee lyrics. Another Boy features a more warmer vocal sound and employs a greater use of harmonies contributing to a very late sixties sound, a prevailing influence throughout the LP. In many ways the album is a missing link between psychedelia and progressive rock, not falling neatly into either category. The languid Tomorrow Morning is the highlight: structurally simple the guitar motif is delightful and sets things up for the most energetic track on the album, Lucky Day, which rounds the album off nicely. The album is extremely well mixed and balanced with each instrument clearly differentiated.

As a bonus, the CD contains the complete soundtrack to a fairly tale written in 1973 that teaches children how computers work, long before computers were an everyday item and Children starting teaching adults how to use the ubiquitous machines! The information provided with this release doesn't specify if the performers on Professor Fuddle's Fantastic Fairy Tale Machine are the same as on Sons Of The Sea or if the album should actually be credited as a second Borealis album, I have the feeling that it is not and that the group split sometime after the failure of their debut album. Even if Professor Fuddle is by the band it would be wrong to consider it as a follow-up to Sons Of The Sea as it was written, by Paul Bradbury, specifically for the fairy tale. Musically it is quite a hotchpotch. The title track makes better use of synthesisers although does have a generally similar sound to the material on the Borealis album. With the exception of a wayward middle eight, the title track itself is quite exceptional. The appearance of a female vocalist (singing the part of Snow White in the fairy tale) on the jolly Rain's My Name is an interesting contrast to the other material, although next track, Witch's Chant, is basically narrative, probably important to the tale but really rather a musical void. Elsewhere we get doses of Shakespeare (Philomel), a folkish jig (Dancing Master's Jig), a lesson in arithmetic (Counting Comparison) and a pretty decent mood piece (Indigo Evening).

Overall, Sons Of The Sea is a pleasant enough album, although not one that set the world alight when it was first released, nor likely to do so now. Professor Fuddle's Fantastic Fairy Tale Machine is, with the exception of a couple of tracks, largely forgettable but good value for completists. The packaging of the CD is exceptional: hard card cover with inner sleeve, separate four page booklet of album notes and a Professor Fuddle poster! Would have been nice to have a bit more information about the band though.