Circus - Circus

Pre-King Crimson Mel Collins gets his flute in the door

Forty-odd years ago, once Vanilla Fudge had legitimised the principle of taking blameless pop songs, slowing them down to the rate of continental drift and whaling the living shit out of them for hours, everyone else seemingly wanted in on the act. The lone album by Circus from 1969, finds them applying this ethos to a seven-minute makeover of Norwegian Wood. It rapidly becomes apparent however, that the former Stormsville Shakers boasted a jazzy dexterity, not to mention an uncommonly delicate touch, which elevates their extrapolations into a different league altogether.

Taking the departure of songwriter Philip Goodhand- Tait as their cue to plunge headlong into a world of fervid experimentation, Circus created something of a stir during a residency at the Marquee, with the virtuosic flute and sax work of Mel Collins and immaculate jazz guitar of Ian Jelfs dropping jaws on a nightly basis. Both excel on a version of Charles Mingus’ II BS – Collins’ squeaky mouthpiece notwithstanding – while original compositions Father Of My Daughter and Pleasures Of A Lifetime reveal a contemplative insularity very much at odds with the band’s youth.

Collins’ hyperventilating flute solo on Don’t Make Promises is, however, the ace in this particular pack. No wonder King Crimson swallowed him whole.

4 stars 4 stars 4 stars 4 stars

Esoteric | ECLEC 2136

Reviewed by Marco Rossi
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