Fusion Orchestra - Skeleton in Armour (Japan Remastered) (1973/2009)

FUSION ORCHESTRA was a highly talented progressive rock ensemble from the UK that did tight but not over-worked heavy prog with an honest, classic but unique sound. Singer/flautist/synthist JILL SAWARD, apparently the axis of the group, leads with a high squall and quite good flute, and paralleled the vocal sound the Wilson sisters would cultivate. Though unlike HEART, JILL SAWARD, DAVE BELL (drums), COLIN DAWSON (guitar), DAVE COWELL (bass), and STEN LAND (synth, guitar, horns) did a very complex and multi-layered music with many roads into jazz-fusion, folk, and Celtic.

The album 'Skeleton In Armour', especially for 1973, is a model of Prog Rock successfully integrated as a viable popular medium and though not truly competitive against the likes of bigger peers, is far better than many bands that have become well known. It reflects all the breakthroughs and celebrations that were occurring in British music in the early 1970s including those of JETHRO TULL, COLOSSEUM, YES, GREENSLADE, and BABE RUTH.

One of the very best 'second tier' English prog bands, their album is a little known treasure and except for the commercial track 'When My Momma's Not at Home', is hugely recommended to anyone who loves earlier British prog with all the best aspects of symphonic, Canterbury, prog Folk and hard rock.