Staff ~ Denmark

Primerose (1984)

Here is another album from the progressive rock wasteland of 1984 to 1986. With Staff you get the same 80's era digitalitis that most bands from the time fell prey to. There's also a funky smooth jazz underpinning that is a bit disconcerting. However, the one saving grace here is the guitar work, seemingly from another era and one that carries a raw edge that I find highly appealing.

To sum up the AC's thoughts: "Similar to Matao (ed: related to Staff), this is a very focused and consistent effort, around 45 minutes of solid instrumental jazz-rock, with no real dips in quality or experiments gone awry, and at times Larsen really lets it rip with some fiery soloing... Considering the time period, it would probably have been impossible for them to live up to the lofty standards of the original, but this is really a pretty satisfying listen in its own right, and definitely worth a shot for fusion fanatics."

And I completely agree with the conclusion, this is a definite bulls-eye for fusion fans that can stomach the 80s production values.

No reissues exist as of 3/4/25. LP originals remain inexpensive.

12/21/18 (review)