1. Piktor’s Metamorphosis
2. Sky Church Hymn
3. The Play and Display of the Heart
4. Transformation (The Speed of Love)
David Sancious - Acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes, Hammond and Yamaha Organ, Moog Synthesiser, Clavinet, Electric and Acoustic Guitar, Bells, Vocals
Gerald Carboy – Bass guitar, wind chimes
Ernest Carter – Drums, percussion, vocals
Gayle Moran - Vocals
David Sancious made his name as a member of Bruce Spingsteen’s E Street Band in the early 1970s. After he left Springsteen, David formed his own group,
Tone, which made several albums, of which this is the second. Sancious is a multi-instrumentalist whose main instruments are keyboards and guitar, although
you can see from the listings above that he plays all kinds of things, creating a rich mixture of sounds.
Jazz aficionados may query my inclusion of a David Sancious album under the heading of jazz. David certainly played hard rock when he was with Bruce
Springsteen but even then his solos betrayed influences from jazz and classical music. His album of Piano Improvisations suggests a jazz
sensibility. The basic style on this 1976 CD is jazz-fusion, with elements of progressive rock included. David composed all the music himself.
The opening track, Piktor’s Metamorphosis, varies between hard jazz-rock and tender melodies interspersed with wordless vocals. The title of Sky Church Music was inspired by something that Jimi Hendrix said in an interview about a vision of a new form of music. It opens entirely
differently from the first track. It has the air of country music, assisted by the sound of a steel guitar. Suddenly the mood changes to powerful
jazz-rock, with David Sancious playing the guitar hero. Just as abruptly, we are back with a gentler country feel which gradually mixes in guitar heroics
for a big finish. For The Play and Display of the Heart, Sancious recorded a piano improvisation and dubbed acoustic guitar on top of it. It is a
flowing, lyrical track: very easy on the ear.
At 18 minutes, the title-track is the longest on the album: it occupied the whole of one side of the original LP. It opens with bell-like sounds which
merge into jazz-fusion. Sancious conjures up a variety of moods from the keyboards and guitar, subtly using dynamics to create sharp contrasts. Fluctuating
sounds shift from left to right across the stereo, rich in multifarious melodies.
David’s emphasis on sound links him to progressive rock but the improvisatory impulse behind much of the music speaks of jazz. However you categorize it, I
find it captivating.
Now can Cherry Red (or anybody!) please release a CD of David Sancious’ third album True Stories, as it was only available on CD for a very short
while and it is a gloriously expansive mixture of transcendental sounds and idealistic lyrics.
Tony Augarde
www.augardebooks.co.uk
CD Reviews
Cherry Red ECLEC 2458
