Search - Earth & Fire :: Atlantis

Wonderful followup to Song of the Marching Children

BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 12/01/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Unlike many bands from the 1970s who usually make us wait no more than a year between albums, Earth & Fire had the habit of waiting two years between albums (usually releasing singles in between that time). In between Song of the Marching Children and this album, Atlantis, they tied us over with a Mellotron heavy single, "Memories" which became a big hit in their home country. For this album, they decided to go for another concept album, and succeeded at it too. As with Eloy some four years later (with their 1977 album Ocean), the lyrics are about the rise and destruction of Atlantis. The music follows in the footsteps of Song of the Marching Children, still relying quite heavily on the Mellotron. The lineup is still the same with vocalist Jerney Kaagman, keyboardist Gerard Koerts, twin brother Chris Koerts on guitar, Hans Ziech on bass, and Ton v.d. Kleij on drums. The title track is a side-length cut, and while divided in to suites (like so many other prog epics of the time), these sound like a collection of separate songs, like "Prologue (Don't Know)", "The Rise and Fall (Under a Cloudy Sky)", the wonderful Mellotron-oriented ballad "The Threat (Suddenly)" and the much more aggressive "Destruction (Rumbling From Inside the Earth)". Earth & Fire, apparently, was one of the few bands to have used the lesser-known 300 model of Mellotron (which came out in between the Mark II and 400), in which Gentle Giant and Barclay James Harvest being the other acts I know that used the model 300. It's only the side-length title track that is about the concept of Atlantis, because the rest of the album is non-conceptual. "Maybe Tomorrow, Maybe Tonight" is the pop-oriented song on the album, and was released as a single and became another hit. For some reason, I am reminded of Spanky & Our Gang (parts of this reminds me of "Sunday Will Never Be the Same"), sounds like Jerney Kaagman was trying to be Elaine "Spanky" McFarlane here. Of course, Spanky & Our Gang never used Mellotron (they used real strings), that's another thing separating "Maybe Tomorrow, Maybe Tonight" with "Sunday Will Never Be the Same", and they never explored prog, unlike Earth & Fire. But it's right back in to prog rock territory, first with "Interlude" which is all Mellotron and guitar, and "Fanfare", in which the lyrics deal with instruments in a brass band, and unsurprisingly, the Mellotron brass is dominant here. It's also structured similarly to "Storm and Thunder". The album closes with the acoustic ballad "Love Please Close the Door". There is no doubt about it, Atlantis, and their previous album, Song of the Marching Children are two of their finest albums, and some of the finest in prog rock from the Netherlands."

Brooding mellotron, the occasional bouncy melody, and Jerney

Jeffrey J.Park | Massachusetts, USA | 06/25/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This Dutch band is incredible and I am not sure why it took me so long to get their stuff. This 1973 release continues the format of Song of the Marching Children (1971) and features infinite and brooding soundscapes loaded with tons of spacey mellotron washes. To top it all off, the excellent vocals of alto Jerney Kaagman lends a certain innocence to the music that I find pretty refreshing. Mix in some great Hammond organ work, pretty good electric guitar/bass/drum playing, the occasional bouncy melody and haunting flute lines, and you will have a good idea of what they are up to musically. The songs essentially flow together into one large song-cycle suite of sorts. This remastered album is very nice and features extraordinarily good sound quality. This version of the album also reproduces the original gatefold format of the vinyl LP - the artwork is simply unbelievable and makes me wish my first exposure to this album was through the original LP format. Highly recommended along with Song of the Marching Children (1971), which is a personal favorite."