Morgan — Nova Solis 1972 (UK, Symphonic Progressive Rock)

MORGAN was formed in the early ’70s by two musicians (Morgan Fisher and Maurice Bacon) who had played in the late sixties British pop group The Soul Survivors (a pretty good semi-pro soul band) that became The Love Affair (the hit pop band of «Everlasting Love» fame, whose singer Steve Ellis left when he realised that the soul had gone and pop had taken over) and later L.A. (the prog version of the previous band, with a new singer). L.A. failed in terms of sales because their largely pop audience couldn’t understand what they were up to, playing in 5/4 and so on. It was time for a new band, MORGAN: the line-up was formed by keyboardist Morgan Fisher, drummer Maurice Bacon and bassist Bob Sapsed. Singer Tim Staffel, who would put lyrics to Fisher’s music, joined from Smile, the pre-Queen outfit of Brian May and Roger Taylor. Ex King Crimson’s Ian McDonald even jammed with them while they were auditioning for their fourth member, although as it turned out he didn’t join up. They released their debut album in 1972 called «Nova Solis», recorded in RCA Studios in Rome, one of the best that could be found at the time, with every type of keyboard and percussion instrument imaginable. The music in «Nova Solis» is typical ’70s progressive rock, with the predominant sound of Fisher’s keyboards (Hammond-Organ, Moog, VCS-3 synthesizer, mellotron, electric piano, piano) and a strong rhythmic section. A second record, initially titled «Brown Out», was recorded in 1973, and is a mix of crazed, hysterical-toned synthesizer solos, winding high operatic vocals, pretentious pseudo-classical keyboard art-rock à la ELP, and artly, experimental song structures in the mold of more serious artists like King Crimson or Gentle Giant. The «Brown Out» LP was not released after it was recorded, in part because the band pissed off RCA executives by spreading their cheeks at the photo shoot for the album cover. It was released only by Passport Records (USA) in 1977 (titled «Brown Out») and two years later by Cherry Red Records (UK) with a new title: «The Sleeper Wakes» which is also the same title as the Angel Air 1999 CD reissue. During their stay in Rome, Morgan Fisher also found time to record a solo album in-between sessions for the MORGAN LP. The working title of his solo album was «Morgan Fisher’s Hand Job», but RCA cancelled the contract with the band and this album was released only in 1984 by Strike Back Records with a different title: «Ivories». Musically this album gave Fisher a chance to work in the area somewhere between classical music and MORGAN band’s music but with none of that pompousness and heaviness associated with the genre. Fisher joined Mott The Hoople within a few months of the band’s breakup, and soldiered on with them as they mutated into Mott The Hoople and then The British Lions.