Morgan - The Sleeper Wakes (1973)

The second and final album from this English band.

The band was a quartet with a lineup of bass, keyboards, drums and vocals. The personell was the same as on the 1972 debut Nova Solis. 

I did not like Nova Solis. It was the result of a pop band trying out symphonic progressive rock.

The band is still working on this on The Sleeper Wakes. There is some symphonic prog here intertwined with pop, vaudeville theater music and avant-garde. The music is also dominated by piano and some vocals which does not feel right on music like this.

The album consists of forty minutes split into four tracks. The first track is a reasonable good symphonic prog track with some classical music thrown into the mix. The track is far too short too. Five minutes on the spot. There is a lot of ELP on the second track, the six minutes long title track. A lot of piano and a strong melody hook which I find rather pleasing.

So far, so reasonable good...... The final two tracks are epics, starting with the ten minutes long third track. There is a lot of spoken words here and sound effects. A bit like David Bowie like music too. There is not much of a concept here and this song does not make much of a meaning.

The fourth and final track, the nineteen minutes long What Is Is What falls complete on it's face. If you want to write and release a twenty minutes long track, please make sure it makes sense for the listener. This track does not make sense at all. It is incoherent and lifeless.

This is another decent album from this band whose obscurity is well deserved. Feel free to check them out.

2 points