East of Eden - Snafu (Deram 1970) 24-bit/96kHz Vinyl Rip

East of Eden is a perfect illustration of the futility that England's Decca Records faced in cultivating progressive rock (apart from the Moody Blues). A critically acclaimed jazz-fusion band with a strong Eastern music influence, they were a natural for stardom during the late '60s; indeed, they might've taken the wind out of the sails of the Mahavishnu Orchestra very fast, but they never became more than a cult act in England, with a strong local following in London, especially on the underground scene, even as they attracted serious audiences in continental Europe. The group was signed to Deram, Decca's progressive rock imprint, in 1968, and cut two LPs, Mercator Projected and Snafu, of which the latter made it into the British Top 30, while a single, "Ramadhan," got to number two in France.

Snafu has to be one of the least commercial albums ever to enter the British Top 30, as well as one of the most stylistically diverse. The term "progressive rock" fits as well as any, yet much of it was rather along the lines of early jazz-rock fusion, with lengthy hard-to-hum instrumental passages. But there was a lot of Eastern influence as well, especially on those pieces that highlighted Dave Arbus' violin and flute. Some of the absurdist humour along the lines of the Soft Machine makes itself known too, though East of Eden were less whimsical than the Softs. Indeed, it's a rather sober affair that sometimes approaches gloominess, and like the late '60s/early '70s Soft Machine, it's more oriented toward virtuosic instrumental sections than vocals and lyrics. Then there's some out and out weirdness, like the squiggly tape manipulations/musique concrète of "Uno Transito Clapori" and the eerie backwards-sounding effects that run through some of "Habibi Baby - Beast of Sweden". Bruce Eder, Richie Unterberger AMG

Track listing:

A1. Have To Whack It Up

A2. Leaping Beauties For Rudy/Marcus Junior

A3. Xhorkom/Ramadhan/In The Snow For A Blow Medley: Part I, Better Git It In Your Soul, Part III

A4. Uno Transito Clapori

B1. Gum Arabic/Confucius

B2. Nymphenberger

B3. Habibi Baby/Boehm Constrictor/Beast of Sweden

B4. Traditional: Arranged East of Eden

Produced by David Hitchcock with East of Eden
Marcus Junior produced by Ritchie Gottehrer
Recorded at Tangerine and Decca studios.