Flying Circus - 2022 - Seasons 25

(63:50; Fastball Music)

Track list:
1. The Jewel City 5:51
2. Footprints in the Sand 3:36
3. In All Ways and Always 8:16
4. Follow the Empress 5:14
5. Seasons 5:23
6. Antigone's Lament and Triumph 6:28
7. Let It Be Gone 4:16
8. Interior Monologue 5:48
9. Evening Solace 3:22
10. Supersonic Man 4:44
11. Never Again 10:05
12. The Jewel City (Reprise) 0:47

Line-up:
Rudiger Blömer - keyboard, violin
Michael Dorp - vocals
Michael Rick - guitars, vocals
Ande Roderigo - drums, percussion, vocals
Roger Weitz - bass, mandolin


Prolusion.
German band Flying Circus got their career as a recording band going with the album "Seasons" back in 1997. Following many years, concerts and albums later, the band wanted to celebrate their initial album this year. They did so in many ways, and one of them was to rerecord this album with the current line-up of the band. This old new (or is that new old) album was released in the fall of 2022 through German label Fastball Music.

Analysis.
As I listened through and made my comments on the initial, remastered version of this album earlier on the day I'm writing also about this new version of the album, the impressions about the initial edition are fresh in my mind. While perhaps lacking a bit in recording quality, what the original "Seasons" had going for it was a vibrant, more progressive oriented take on the hard rock sound Led Zeppelin had developed in the middle of the 1970's. Complete with exotic sounding notes, tones and timbres and the inclusion of folk and world music impulses.

It is impressive to hear how much of a difference 25 years and a revised line-up can do for an album, as "Seasons 25" comes across as a much altered and different creation on multiple levels. Vocalist Dorp has a more restrained delivery for starters, and the vocal mannerisms as well as the high tone vibrato that reminded so much of Robert Plant a generation ago have by and large been minimized or even removed. Powerful and melodic, but now with a less striking resemblance to Plant or any other true household name of the business.

Some extensive work has been done with the compositions too. Some nods in the direction of Led Zeppelin remain, but they have been tuned down quite a lot in some places and directly replaced or overshadowed by other impulses elsewhere. A more prominent organ adds a bit of a Deep Purple tinged atmosphere in places. As in the organ providing the reference points, while the additional instrumentalists contribute with impulses from other directions, resulting in music that doesn't really have a striking resemblance to any specific household names but with the organ adding that Jon Lord oriented mood and mode of delivery.

I do find that many of the guitar parts have been altered from a folk and acoustic delivery to one with more of an Americana and blues tangent, giving this new version of the album a more striking US rock oriented attitude. Other songs have had a clear addition of elements from soul music in places, and on one occasion a little bit of gospel finds its way into a track too. Small elements, but emphasizing that this edition of the album comes with a more distinct US-oriented flavor, and gives the album as a whole a much altered sound and orientation.

While this isn't the first time I have encountered an album that has been rerecorded, I believe this production is among the ones that have been changed the most in terms of how the material comes across in a new guise. Retaining the melodies and harmonies of the original, but adjusting vocals, some instruments used and the tone, timbre and execution of other instruments have transformed this album from a vibrant progressive hard rock album Led Zeppelin style to a more contemporary Americana-tinged variety of classic progressive hard rock, with references to bands being more subtle in nature. Some nods in the direction of Led Zeppelin remain, a few in the direction of Deep Purple have been added, but most of all this is progressive hard rock with more of a US hard rock attitude.

The recording quality, mix and production is at a much higher level than the original edition of this production. This is an album made by seasoned players that at this stage know very well what they want to accomplish and how to go about it. A matter that is easy to tell when listening through this album.

Conclusion.
"Seasons 25" is a new album in many ways, and if this can be described as an intriguing companion album to the original or if it is the other way around is a topic I feel is open to discussion. Both are strong albums, and so different from one another that fans as well as those curious about the band really should listen to both of them. A solid slice of progressive hard rock, with a bit of a US oriented attitude and swagger in this case.

Olav "Progmessor" Björnsen, October 2022

Links:
https://www.flying-circus.band/
http://www.fastball-music.de/