Borrowing their name from a Belgian cartoon character and in the record books as being the first band to take to the the stage during the inaugural Isle Of Wight festival, Marsupilami’s legacy survives as a fascinating footnote in the annals of all things progressive. Originally released in 1970 on the UK independent Transatlantic record label, then home to the likes of Pentangle, John Fahey, The Humblebums and John Cale, the Taunton-based septet’s self-titled debut captures the sound of a band with a uniquely unrestrained line in flights of instrumental fancy.
Besides exhibiting a liking for archaic Latin song titles (try Ab Inito Ad Finem and Facilis Descencus Averni), Marsupilami’s sound here is typified by a particularly fluid and free-flowing sub-genre of prog/ psych fusion replete with highly ambitious arrangements and breakneck changes of mood, tempo and dynamics. Immerse yourself in any of the album’s five extraordinary tracks and you’ll find yourself deep in the territory of all things near unclassifiable. Thirty-eight years on from its original release, Marsupilami’s debut sounds audaciously unformulaic and positively overflowing with ideas.
