Circus - Circus (1976, LP, Switzerland)

Side A
1. Stormsplineter (2:45)
2. Nowadays (10:49)
3. Sundays (6:56)
Side B
4. Dawntalk (5:07)
5. Room For Sale (15:07)

Musicians:
Roland Frei / lead vocals, 6- & 12-string acoustic guitars, tenor saxophone
Andres Grieder / flute
Marco Cerletti / bass, bass pedals, guitar
Fritz Hauser / drums, vibes Releases information LP Zytglogge ‎- ZYT 208 (1976, Switzerland)

Coming from Basle (NW Switzerland on the language border between the Alemanics and the Romands), this unusual quartet of musicians has a strange line-up. Hauser is one of the better percussionists (still playing but in jazz bands nowadays), and bassist Cerletti (the only non-Alemanic in the band) is certainly excellent plays also acoustic guitar. The other two, Fri and Grieder, share the wind instruments with the vocals. That's it! No KB and almost no el. guitars, at least on the first two albums. This group is one of the real gems still unknown to most progheads, developing a fusion between classical and rock much like early MANEIGE did but also includes some influences from VDGG (mostly the sax but sometimes also the singing) and also KING CRIMSON to a lesser extent. While having some success locally, they only managed three studio albums of which the first two are now on CD. Of those two albums "Movin' On" is their best but their debut is also excellent.CIRCUS is certainly recommended to everyone who loves great interplay between musicians and to progheads not afraid of a little adventure in their musical endeavours