David Kubinec’s Mainhorse Airline - The Geneva Tapes

Lost album of proto-prog finally gets aired

With genuine maverick David Kubinec at the mic, and a cast of virtuoso musicians behind, Mainhorse Airline were an early prog supergroup. Unfortunately, despite some juicy support slots with the likes of Humble Pie and Free, they failed to produce a record before bad luck and bad judgement saw them fold.

For prog fans, it’s got the works: unbelievable drumming, keyboard virtuosity and wistful, asinine lyrics sung in a dodgy howl. There are in addition, two standouts that make it bearable for everyone else, the ominous but beautiful The Passing Years and What The Government Can Do For You, which is a superb and fluent slice of prog, pop and psych with an infectious keyboard riff.

There is an appreciable experimentalism on Pale Sky, on which prog and blues sit fairly comfortably together, but elsewhere it’s often simply too much noodling and too little direction. Had they had the chance to hone this material as a unit, they could well have been successful. As it is, history probably got them just about right.

Ork Records | ORK 3

Reviewed by Jan Zarebski
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