Gnosis Ratings

Reviews:

Mike McLatchey 9-September-2002 Financial Tycoon

The treasure trove of innnovative Danish rock is still opening up to the world thanks to some recent reissues of bands like Ache, Burnin' Red Ivanhoe and Day of Phoenix, but generally such events are too far and few between. One band still unreleased on CD format is that of the late 70s group Coma. Creating similar music to that of country-mates Dr. Dopo Jam, Coma recorded their debut album, Financial Tycoon, with a sound that seemed a few years too late, bringing in jazz and Zappa influences to create a music both humorous and agile, leaping from style to style and instrumental to vocal section with abandon. Instrumentally, Coma rely on a line up similar to that of Kraan's early years with their horns/winds, guitar, bass and drums formation, while being larger personnel wise. There are several vocal sections throughout, all in a quite acceptable English, allowing us to hear some bizarre lyrics that might not go over so well in today's overly politically correct society. However, while these are quite amusing, Coma's instrumental work is their strength and there are just loads of long, warm instrumental sections with plenty of solos, and these are where the Zappa influences come in, especially in both structure and the occasional addition of tuned percussion. Of course, there must have been an influence on the lyrics as well, as song titles like "One of Them Crazy Gurues in Love" and "Hard Banana" attest. This is a genuinely interesting jazzy inflected progressive rock oddity that is long overdue for reissue.

Links for further information

Mike McLatchey	9-September-2002	Financial Tycoon
The treasure trove of innnovative Danish rock is still opening up to the world thanks to some recent reissues of bands like Ache, Burnin' Red Ivanhoe and Day of Phoenix, but generally such events are too far and few between. One band still unreleased on CD format is that of the late 70s group Coma. Creating similar music to that of country-mates Dr. Dopo Jam, Coma recorded their debut album, Financial Tycoon, with a sound that seemed a few years too late, bringing in jazz and Zappa influences to create a music both humorous and agile, leaping from style to style and instrumental to vocal section with abandon. Instrumentally, Coma rely on a line up similar to that of Kraan's early years with their horns/winds, guitar, bass and drums formation, while being larger personnel wise. There are several vocal sections throughout, all in a quite acceptable English, allowing us to hear some bizarre lyrics that might not go over so well in today's overly politically correct society. However, while these are quite amusing, Coma's instrumental work is their strength and there are just loads of long, warm instrumental sections with plenty of solos, and these are where the Zappa influences come in, especially in both structure and the occasional addition of tuned percussion. Of course, there must have been an influence on the lyrics as well, as song titles like "One of Them Crazy Gurues in Love" and "Hard Banana" attest. This is a genuinely interesting jazzy inflected progressive rock oddity that is long overdue for reissue.
Links for further information