English vocals, instrumental
The live session
included in ”Progglådan” was a welcome addition to Panta Rei's
uneven yet worthwhile album – the only thing they released – and
their small output was further expanded when Mellotronen put out ”The
Naked Truth” in 2012. Four tracks recorded in concert in Kummelnäs
near Stockholm 1972 , with another '72 excerpt from a show in Panta
Rei's hometown Uppsala. The Kummelnäs tape shows Panta Rei at their
vivid best and has songs not on their album (including one Chick
Corea composition), but the sound quality is questionable. I'm not too sensitive when it comes to the fidelity of archival releases, but the mono
sound here is flat, and the lack of dynamics doesn't really do Panta Rei's
intricate music justice. The Uppsala track is in even lesser
fidelity, with a rather intrusive distortion on especially the
vocals.
Mellotronen's original idea was to reissue the
original album, but Portuguese label Golden Pavillion beat them to
it, so ”The Naked Truth” is a kind of 'plan B' solution. I'm not
sure if there even exists any better sounding tapes of the original
Panta Rei, maybe this is the best there is, but it would benefit from
a cleaned up reissue. With the modern AI technology, it could surely
be remixed in stereo and better dynamics be extracted from the source
tape. It's also a bit disappointing they re-used the cover art for the original album. One of progg's most stunning sleeves, it feels a bit lazy not bothering to come up with something more imaginative.
Full album playlist
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