Arkham (CD)

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Arkham: Daniel Denis (whistle, drums); Jean-Luc Manderlier (electric piano, Hammond organ, clavioline); Patrick Cogneaux (bass, sound effects). Additional personnel: Claude Deron (electric fugelhorn); Claude "Piccolo" Berkovitch, Christian "Djourn" Ramon (bass). The closet of progressive rock is full of interesting artifacts; bands whose flamed burned bright but brief, some recording only one album that lurked in obscurity till being discovered years later. Belgium's Arkham never even got that far, but thanks to those lovable prog trainspotters at Cuneiform, the complex, intriguing music of this previously unknown group can finally be heard. Arkham was an organ-led trio that only lasted from 1970 to '72. Though drummer Daniel Denis would later make prog-rock history as a founding member of Univers Zero, Arkham's audience was initially limited to those who attended their concerts around Belgium, France, and Holland. This collection of live recordings finds the band variously echoing the organ trio proto-prog of Egg, the Nice, and Soft Machine, though they went in most often for experimental, jazz-tinged excursions along the lines of the latter. In the earliest part of the '70s, progressive rock was still in its infancy, so it's all the more impressive to hear the level of both compositional and improvisational sophistication in keyboardist Jean-Luc Manderlier's work. It's also fascinating to hear the roots from which Univers Zero sprang, and to realize that it took 30 years for music of this quality to reach a wide audience.