? Rare 70's ORIG SENSATIONS FIX FLYING - PROG PSYCH

$

36

 *** ATTENTION!***

Please carefully read our entire listing to answer any questions you may have,  including discount shipping rates at end of listing; then contact us directly with any other information you may need. 

  ORIGINAL SPACE-ROCK CLASSIC !                      

           SENSATIONS FIX

             FLYING TAPES

                                ...ITALY - Polydor - 2448 074

SCARCE 70's ORIGINAL first pressing of a great underrated prog-psych/space-rock gem. completely superior to early 70's versions...here's the story:  

Sensations' Fix never quite reached the same level of acclaim enjoyed by fellow Italian Prog rockers, but their relative obscurity within the greater Progressive pantheon might simply be a matter of underexposure: Italy was a hothouse of musical creativity in the 1970s, and during their all-too brief heyday Sensations Fix released something less than a handful of recordings, few of them outside their native country and none following the standard classical/symphonic template then in vogue.

Clearly here's a band in desperate need of a belated reappraisal, and this hard to find 70's overview is, without question, their best album. For already confirmed fans it offers the added bonus of being entirely remixed, dramatically eliminating the low-tech, kitchen sink sound of the original home-produced LPs.

Briefly: Sensations' Fix was a space-rock trio (later a quartet) led by ace guitarist Franco Falsini, an unabashed admirer of Robert Fripp, to whom he dedicated the 1974 FRAGMENTS OF LIGHT LP, in a note on the front cover reassuring the Crimson King that the Heavenly Music Corporation was alive and well outside Florence, Italy, where the band had its home at the time. But unlike other ardent Frippheads (step forward, Richard Pinhas) Falsini developed a guitar style uniquely and recognizably his own, anticipating (in primitive form, but with a similar battery of filters, flangers, and atmospheric synthesizers) the same cosmic terrain.

Which may explain why their music holds up so well after all these years.

The first two tracks on FLYING TAPES are include the quintessential Music Is Painting In The Air, in style and title perhaps the best definition of the Sensations' Fix (and, by extension, the greater Prog Rock) philosophy. Next, from the (likewise)  Leave My Chemistry Alone and Strange About The Hands, a pair of tracks revisited in song form from their classic early Lp's but presented here in superior dynamic remixes (re-recordings?) of their original instrumental arrangements. Filled with more strength and vigor than you could imagine - vastly superior! 

Side One of FLYING TAPES concludes with Cold Nose Story, the title track written as the soundtrack to a movie about cocaine addiction. Gentle guitar arpeggios float over a bed of ominous bass synthesizers, with Falsini's dreamlike vocals drifting somewhere in the middle distance.

Anyone still familiar with the classic progressive album FINEST FINGER probably won't recognize the version of Boat Of Madness introduced here on the flipside of FLYING TAPES. The rhythm section is, as elsewhere, pushed front and center in the mix, and the remodeled song continues far beyond the point where the original version faded out in a wash of percolating synths, adding another trademark Falsini solo before the whole band kicks in with a final, convulsive coda.

Their  VISIONS FUGITIVES album was an oddity. Two tracks  have been excerpted here: Fleetwood Tri L-Track and Warped Notions Of A Practical Joke (such playful track list prolixity was a Sensations' Fix hallmark). The former is a brief, semi- psychedelic interlude of tentative guitars and treated bass; the latter is an uncharacteristically upbeat rocker, with a curious bayou vibe in the acoustic guitar intro, straight from the swamps of the lower Mississippi delta.

The album ends with Faux Batard, the closest thing in this collection to a traditional song, as well as the nearest in sound to the original version, from the BOXES PARADISE LP era.

Sadly, only one of their original albums has, to date, been rescued from vinyl and re-issued on compact disc: the first LP, FRAGMENTS OF LIGHT. However...FLYING TAPES is the ideal candidate as their best album ... Good hunting finding a copy after this one gets snatched up.

                                   All exclusive re-mixed superior versions: 

   1. Fragments of light (3:30)
2. Music is painting in the air (3:27)
3. Leave my chemistry alone (4:02)
4. Strange about the hands (3:00)
5. Cold nose story (4:22)
6. Boat of madness (5:36)
7. Fleetwood trip L-track (2:15)
8. Warped notions of a practical joke (4:18)
9. Faux batard (3:15)   
 

CONDITION: The cover: all slick and smooth M- with NO bends, no writing and no split seams ...very nice ... 

The vinyl: all glossy clean and clear "EX" to M- TOP levels smooth and plays flawless ...the Polydor labels are both CLEAN 

keeper!

     A  GREAT ADDITION TO ANYONE'S COLLECTION !

SEE: SELLERS OTher items for similar cool sounds for "head" people...

EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING

All imperfections are noted both cover & record