Aragorn - The Suite. 1974 Australia (archival)

As promised, here is the "debut" album by the collective of Australian musicians who were also responsible for Snakes Alive and Stepps. The Suite is not what I expected - at all. I presumed it would be a symphonic progressive work, similar to other Australasian bands of the era such as Sebastian Hardie, Dragon, Ragnarok, Aleph, Think, and the rest of them. Nope.

The liner notes indicate that ELP and Jethro Tull were an influence. And that's probably so, especially the former given the classical piano work. But what we have here is something extraordinary, a sound that has absolutely no precedent in this part of the world. That of Italy. Che? That's the big surprise here. The stop-start-fluttering-flute-hard-guitar madness of Osanna, De De Lind, and Capitolo 6. Of course it's sung in English, but the music has the same excitement of exploration as the Italians. My cynical nature comes to the fore, as in: How could something like this ever get recorded in Australia in 1973/74? As we often say about music that comes from Eastern Europe - musicians arriving at similar conclusions via different paths. How did the The Raindear Army (from Springfield, Illinois of all places) come up with Italian prog ideas - in 1967? Music is emotional sound math at its core, so formulas run into each other eventually. We see this all the time in analytics. The Suite is an energetic work, and that continues on with Snakes Alive. There are 16 tracks here, but they segue into each other as to create one suite, hence the title I suspect.

While Snakes Alive and Stepps have garnered some audience over the years, this archival release remains completely under the radar. It's only been a year since release, but it's absent from ProgArchives, has one entry in Gnosis, 18 owners on Discogs, and 20 ratings on RYM with one review. An album like this would have garnered much more attention 20 years ago. I'm going to add to those totals now (other than PA). Don't miss it.

Ownership: CD: 2022 Merry-Go-Round (Korea). Jewel case release with liner notes in English (and Korean).

12/12/23 (new entry)