Review Summary: Another good US prog band from the 70’s. An honest and interesting work.
“Night On Bald Mountain” is the debut studio album of Fireballet that was released in 1975. The line up on the album is Ryche Chlanda, Brian Hough, Frank Petto, Martyn Biglin and Jim Cuomo. It has also the participation of Ian McDonald.
Fireballet was a progressive rock band that put out two studio albums in the mid of the 70’s, their debut “Night On Bald Mountain” in 1975 and their second “Two, Too…” in 1976. They set themselves apart from most prog rock acts of that era, mostly simply by being from America, putting them alongside such vaulted acts as Kansas and I guess Styx too. Their music was quite British, often reminiscent of many other classic progressive rock bands from that era like Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, Van Der Graaf Generator and Emerson Lake & Palmer. I can also see some reminiscences of Nektar. And at times, Fireballet also sounds to me as some a weird version of Gentle Giant, replete with various time changes, counterpart keys and guitar riffs, and even some odd sound effects in the middle. However and despite they’ve been strongly influenced by the British progressive rock, their music also had a typical 70’s American touch.
Their debut “Night On Bald Mountain” is their best release and can be counted along with Cathedral’s “Stained Glass Stories”, Mirthrandir’s “For You The Old Women” and the first five studio albums of Kansas, as one of the most worthwhile albums of American 70’s progressive rock music. The band had strong vocal harmonies and two players on keyboards. Their musicianship was also from first class, and their very complex music also demanded it to be so. Thus, you can expect on “Night On Bald Mountain” a lot of terrific organ and synth work, thanks to the two keyboardists featured in the band, along with some sax and flute, played by the guest musician and producer Ian McDonald from King Crimson, which also produced the album. All this together adds a nice extra dimension to the sound of the album.
“Night On Bald Mountain” is a little jewel of 70’s progressive rock music. It was produced by Ian McDonald, well known as a member of the early King Crimson’s line up. As I mentioned, in places, he also contributed with some flute and sax work. Stylistically, however, the musical orientation of this US band isn’t comparable to the producer’s band. Instead of that, Fireballet had dedicated them to the dramatic variant of the progressive rock music. “Night On Bald Mountain” is indeed an intriguing album, and not just musically. It also convinces with its dynamics and the clean and powerful sound. “Night On Bald Mountain” is one of the best symphonic progressive rock albums from USA from the late 70’s.
“Les Cathédrales” features colourful instrumental keyboard passages and great vocals. It begins with soft keyboards and acoustic guitar, a cross between Genesis, Flash, or early Yes, until both a sax solo and electric guitar pop up, which gives to it a Van Der Graaf Generator’s vibe. The players used a wide range of different sounds and keyboards. “Centurion (Tales Of The Fireball Kids)” is less than half the length of the opener and still is equally complex and grand. Here, the band takes on an almost “electrified ELP” sound, with terrific fuzz guitar leads playing counterpoint to Keith Emerson’s like “pomp” keyboards. “Fireballet” combines many classical elements. It was originally by Modest Mussorgsky who also originated “Pictures At An Exhibition” of ELP. It has clear inspirations from their British models, Genesis and Yes, with sophisticated brilliance. “Atmospheres” is basically an acoustic guitar song, with some pastoral sounding piano and keys supporting a soft vocal melody, reminding me of something that may have appeared on “Nursery Cryme” or “Foxtrot”. It leads smoothly into the title track extravaganza. The title track is an epic suite with nearly nineteen minutes, consisting of five parts. It’s an elegant, grand and wonderfully ambitious track. It has many twists and variations on different themes, creating a spirited roller coaster ride through prog territory. Each musician shines in the different sections. Regardless, sax makes another short but welcome appearance on this track as well, so even a touch of Van Der Graaf Generator pops up. As I’m unfamiliar with the work of Mussorgsky, the composer of this classical piece, I can’t make a judgment if Fireballet gave the song justice. What I know is that it sounds good to me.
Conclusion: Recorded originally in the short lived “stereo-quad” format, which fortunately, is still quite playable on the stereo turntables, Fireballet puts in a credible and often ambitious performance in their nice debut studio album. Producer Ian McDonald comes out from behind the board to add his talents on flute and sax on a few numbers, too. As one might expect, the use of two keyboardists gives this album a heavy flavoring of Mellotron and especially Moog, and it works to great effect in conveying the sweep of the title piece. This debut album from Fireballet has one interesting and enjoyable collection of tracks, and I highly recommend it for all prog rock lovers, like me. If you like 70’s symphonic progressive rock, then you needs to add this to your collection. This is a very pleasant album and never tedious, really.
Music was my first love.
John Miles (Rebel)
