Fortunate Observer of Time is the third studio effort by Frogg Café, one of the best exponents of
contemporary USAs prog rock. This is the first album with guitarist Steve Uh (who also does some
input on keyboards and violin), and in comparison with the preceding masterpiece Creatures, this
album is less challenging. By no means am I pointing out that this album is lighter or more simplistic,
but the very fact that this refurbished line-up decided to work more meticulously on the consistency of
the repertoires melodic drive and nuances than on a complete exercise on the eclectic potential of the
prog genre (that is how one can describe Creatures in a nutshell). This initial description is not
supposed to mislead you Fortunate Observer of Time is an excellent opus that continues to dignify
enormously the lessons learned by the band during their Zappa-covering years. The opener Eternal
Optimist bears an accessible vibe, although the typically progressive complexity is there, particularly in
the crafty rhythmic development that states some 7/8 tempos in the recurrent 4/4 pattern, as well as
the use of somewhat weird chord progressions in the keyboards basis. It sounds like Hands with a
slightly augmented dose of American blues-hard-rock. The title track is an instrumental in which the
musicians display more patently their jazz-rock leanings with touches of Gentle Giant and Happy the
Man: the main motif bears a certain eeriness, but all in all, the ensembles energy allows the melodic
development fill the atmosphere properly and exquisitely. Reluctant Observer provides an
augmentation in the sonic energy, which is quite adequate for the sort of solemnity inherent to the
tracks compositional structure and arrangements. The experimental vibe of Reluctant Observer is
inspired by 69-73 Zappa and Happy the Man, with slight yet noticeable hints to a softened version of
Univers Zero. This track is less explicitly pompous than it may seem through these words, but it
definitely has a sonic majesty that makes it more magnificent than the two previous tracks.
Magnificence remains a strong rule with the next track No Regrets, a track that perfectly combines the
fully orchestrated feel of track 3 and the overtly jazzy dynamics of track 2. The successive horn and
violin solos that emerge during one of the instrumental interludes have to be some of the most exciting
moments in the album. Youre Still Sleeping is one of the albums two epics. Preceded by a beautiful
brief song entitled Resign, Youre Still Sleeping states an effective linkage of well-written motifs that
wander through assorted schemes: Mahavishnu-meets-RTF jazz-rock, Latin-jazz, even some form of
chamber rock heavily infected with jazzy undertones. Abyss of Dissension is designed to catch the
listeners attention in a special way near the end. It is the loudest track in the album, it provides the
arguably catchiest motif on a Zawinul-esque sort of way, it features evidently Zappa-esque treatment
of the various climaxes that emerge along the way
this track represents a sort of culmination that the
attentive listener has been expecting from track 1. Uhs leads are simply phenomenal, but again, the
whole ensemble works phenomenally through the variety of fluid funky-jazz, flamboyant big band and
pompous art-rock passages that go on through a carefully ordained sequence. The album ends with a
piece of soft chamber rock featuring two violins, cello and perhaps some woodwind that might as well
be an emulating keyboard. The piece is soft but the compositional drive isnt: the cadence is playful,
consistently based on dissonant progressions that settle an ethereal disturbance. A weird yet delicate
ending for a great album, one of the greatest from 2005 Frogg Café rules! by Cesar Inca
FROGG CAFÉ Music Online:
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