MORAZ JOINS THE GIANTS

Press, 8 July 1976, Page 16

MORAZ JOINS THE GIANTS

By

JUDE FAHEY

Patrick Moraz “1” (Charisma 6309 975): This is a most complex work from Yes’s man of the keyboards (35 of them), demanding, and fulfilling for those will stick with it. The story of “i” is included in the package and it is an unusually sound one, to which the "music is supplementary. People from every time and culture come to “i,” a massive building deep in the jungle, searching for Ultimate Experience. They start at the bottom and rise through many floors to the experience at the top, striving for the secrets of life which are contained in an orb circling above (God? fate?). The searchers don’t reach that orb: when they get to the top the Ultimate Experience is death, of course, and they have to jump. Pretentious? No, because' he doesn’t attempt answers to the questions bigger than man that he poses. Rather, he creates a game of life and progress for all listeners to play and leaves the interpretation to them. Perhaps the most impressive story I’ve heard in rock.

So the music is a blend of the advanced culture (in sophisticated keyboard work) and ethnic origins of man (in primitive jungle rhythms) involved. The musicians range from a Swiss children’s choir and a French songstress to the Percussionists of Rio de Janeiro, plus Moraz all the way. Without the story it is almost too alien to follow; with the story it becomes a work of immense proportion. For intricacies and blends of culture Moraz. is a clever man indeed, and 1 hold this work in awe and yet I feel a lot of sensual pleasures are lost because of the excessive amount of detail and accuracy — it hits the head rather than the heart. Moraz certainly opens in imposing style, presenting man’s past and future together, as we are carried through a galaxy of sounds and deposited deep in the jungle. Side one becomes a feast of cultures, superbly integrated, and side two is more romantic, focusing on the two lovers who take the journey to Ultimate Experience together. The ethnic sections bring pulsating natural rhythms and movements throbbing into life and just as quickly we are whisked off into lovely quieter interludes with sparing arrangements or thick layers of sound that build to crescendo. The sound is usually Yes-like, often funky as well, and veryvery original. I can’t resist just a word about Wakeman .since both wizards chose the same hardest question in life for their themes, and released them in the same week. In “No Earthly Connection” Wakeman presents one man’s view; Moraz, more cleverly, leaves it open for all to play. Musically Wakeman’s effort is grand and wholly satisfying; Moraz gets a little too tricky' and ambitious. But “i” without question establishes him up there with the other big two, Jade Warrior “Waves” (Island L 35826): The two mainstays of this group, Jon Field and Tony Duhig, were impressive some years ago with their unusual blends of rock and

the Orient. Work since then has been little or none until this interpretation of the moods of the ocean, using Stevie Winwood on Moog and piano, in free-form jazz. The music here is calm, contemplative and deeplyrelaxing. The thread of ocean movement is lost as an earthy guitar passage evolves in side two and the end leaves me hanging; but musically it is quite satisfying. The whole work is patient and unhurried (while other groups are currently heaping layer upon layer), as various instruments drift into focus, one or two at a time. This calm pace makes the most of each melody and gives the ear warm pleasure. Boz Scaggs “Silk Degrees” (CBS 234809): With a name like that I thought he had to be somebody. A Dylan or something. Hardly fair, was it. In fact this is a rather elegant young singer of good voice and songs and impeccable arrangements, but probably one of many. Scaggs certainly delivers with class and natural ease and I sense a lot of style. He might be a whizz on stage, with his Ferry-like image of sophistication, but I doubt that we get his best on records. More of a cabaret star, I wonder. His writing is admirable, j ranging from light cabaret I to hardrdriven boogie and: from fast pop tempo to the i very slow and hazy. Scaggs is as mellow as a | cabaret singer must be, I with a bluesy edge through, which he can sound convincingly sad and mistreated. The arrangements, by his keyboard man, are always clean and tasteful, and performed with warmth and competence.