FUSION ORCHESTRA

Live At The Marquee 1974 SeCret

London proggers’ recently unearthed bootleg, recorded by a Japanese tourist.

Jill Saward is currently the lead singer with Shakatak, but she first fronted Fusion Orchestra as a 15-yearold – also playing guitar, keyboards and flute – and was only 20 when this gig was recorded.

The group only made one album, 1973’s Skeleton In Armour, and although they thrived on live work, performing around 500 shows in six years, Saward writes in her sleevenotes that some of the energy had gone by the time they split in 1975.

But energy is what hallmarks this performance and Fusion Orchestra were clearly a terrific live group. There were so few women singers in progressive rock that Saward demands attention straight away. Her vocals veer from bluesy and gritty to a freewheeling upper register. She would have fitted in at the rockier end of the spectrum – like Maggie Bell in Stone The Crows or Elkie Brooks in Vinegar Joe – but Fusion Orchestra were a different proposition.

From Dave Bell’s intricate, hyperactive drum intro, through the episodic 11 minutes of the opener Beginning End, the five-piece play with an intensity that cuts through the less-thanpristine sound quality. A brief interlude with vocals and keyboards and they all hare off into another speedy passage, with Saward’s flute solo and Colin Dawson delivering some speedy lead guitar. When Saward starts strumming a 12-string on Sister Reno, it feels like its shaping up to be a ballad but soon veers off in a number of different directions, while Man In The Sky features a wig-out synth solo.

Fusion Orchestra had a very individual style but maybe that made them a little too difficult to pigeonhole. The tricky riffs in six and seven time suggest jazz by default, but it’s more like rock pulled and stretched in all sorts of different directions in a way that accentuates each song’s dynamics.

Like many live shows of the time, there’s a drum solo on Spinedance that’s impressive but a tad superfluous. There’s also that other 70s staple, the rock’n’roll encore, with Whole Lotta Shakin’ offering some light relief.