Coma - Financial Tycoon 1977 (Denmark, Progressive / Jazz Rock)
Great and very rare (fetching up prices higher than 100 EUROS) Danish prog rock,with obvious Zappa -esque style jazzy influences .“Financial Tycoon” is like a direct cross between two of Denmark’s finest bands: Dr. Dopo Jam and Secret Oyster. From Dr. Dopo Jam they inherit the obvious Zappa influence, including humorous bits and complex composition style. From Secret Oyster they get the fusion tendencies and instrumental dexterity. Some splendid sax and ripping guitar solos really add spice to the album.
Creating similar music to that of country-mates Dr. Dopo Jam, Coma recorded their debut album, Financial Tycoon, with a sound that seemed a few years too late, bringing in jazz and Zappa influences to create a music both humorous and agile, leaping from style to style and instrumental to vocal section with abandon. Instrumentally, Coma rely on a line up similar to that of Kraan's early years with their horns/winds, guitar, bass and drums formation, while being larger personnel wise. There are several vocal sections throughout, all in a quite acceptable English, allowing us to hear some bizarre lyrics that might not go over so well in today's overly politically correct society. However, while these are quite amusing, Coma's instrumental work is their strength and there are just loads of long, warm instrumental sections with plenty of solos, and these are where the Zappa influences come in, especially in both structure and the occasional addition of tuned percussion. Of course, there must have been an influence on the lyrics as well, as song titles like "One of Them Crazy Gurues in Love" and "Hard Banana" attest. This is a genuinely interesting jazzy inflected progressive rock oddity that is long overdue for reissue. The second album of the band "Amoc" was released in 1980.
Tracks:
01. Up From The Sump ... - 0:00
02. Financial Tycoon 1 - 0:22
03. Peer Grynt - 6:51
04. One Of Them Crazy Gurues In Love - 10:43
05. Fulton - 14:30
06. Financial Tycoon 2 - 20:41
07. A Hard Banana - 25:28
08. Frank Fedling - 28:12
09. ... Down From The Trees - 33:44
10. Tumbling 'Shadows - 35:35
Personnel:
Jakob Mygind-alto saxophone, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone
Flemming Friberg - guitar, vocals
Leif (Guru) Christensen - bass
Viggo Bertelsen - guitar
Klaus Thrane - drums, percussion, piano (08)
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Skak Snitker - trumpet
Bent Klausen - vibraphone
Ernst Thomsen - violin
Ole Rasmussen - producer
