Fleur De Lis - Facing Morning - 1972 (Den) Progressive Rock

Fleur De Lis was a Danish band which was formed in Skive in the spring of 1970 by Kai Olesen (drums) and Leif Nielsen (guitar, vocals & clavinet). These two had previously been playing in the progressive blues-acts "The Fog" and "The False Image". They teamed up with Bjarne Pedersen (guitar), Peder Pedersen (bass & acoustic guitar) and Svend Thomsen (organ). On the album a different drummer, Per Schou (drums & clarinet) can be heard on the bonus tracks. The album was recorded in 1971, but released in 1972. It is perhaps the most valueable Danish obscure record of the 1970's progressive rock records, according to the Danish newspaper "Politiken" who released a Danish rock Encyclopaedia in 2002 the album is sold for between 8000DKK (876,85£) and 10.000DKK (1096,06£) on auctions. One of the main reasons this album is so spectacular and rare is, that it was released on a small label located in Aalborg called Qualisound and was limited to 500 copies, an original is near impossible to track, but the album was re-released in 1995 with bonus tracks. Leif Nielsen is still an active musician today, but he is not very well known to the Danish people of today.

This curiosity is actually pretty good. It is far from the best record in progressive rock, but it had potential. Fuzz and improvisation reigns on this record. It is full of down-to-earth, laid back tracks from which you can almost smell the weed that must have been smoked while writing and recording these songs. Many progressive elements are covered. An example of this could be the mixing of styles the title track. Which feature opera vocals performed by an unknown woman. Speaking of the vocals, the vocals performed by the (then) twenty year old Leif Nielsen are actually pretty good. They fit very well to the style of gloomy, depressive progressive rock which the band delivers on most of the tracks. These stoners must have really had a downer. The moaning vocals, weeping guitar, suicidal drums, mourning bass and groaning organ works really well together, while these adjectives may not be of positive origin, the album is still very good. It is like a mix between Van Der Graaf Generator and early Pink Floyd.  

1. Home of Mind
2. Har I Set (Have You Seen)
3. Facing Morning
4. In Love
5. Why
6. Bad Loser
7. Sympathetic Attitude
8. Sneen (the Snow)
Bonus tracks:
9. East Hill Rag
10. Settlement
11. After the Settlement
12. Gensyn 1 (Reunion 1)
13. Gensyn 111 (Reunion 111)
14. WBN
15.  Mood

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