Freak Emporium - February 2004
What a joy it is too see an official release of the Fuchsia (UK 70's) self
titled CD/LP! The vinyl is pressed on 180 gm plastic and is numbered in an edition
of only 500 copies, reproducing the original artwork and including a four page
insert with full story, photos, press cuttings etc. The CD is housed in a digi-pak
reproducing the original artwork, with informative booklet. This rare slice
of progressive/psyche folk has male and female vocals and features complex whimsical
arrangements
with cello and violins etc. It has been remastered by Tony Durant himself and
is pretty much an essential part of any UK progressive folk collection. Very
cool
Rockerilla - Febbraio 2004 (di Enrico Ramunni)
Elegante riedizione (sia in CD che LP) per un capolavoro misteriosamente dimenticato della musica progressiva inglese: come è stato possibile ignorare una raccolta di canzoni dalla grazia così unica e compiuta? Formati ad Exeter come trio dal chitariista Tony Durant (compagno di strada di Chris Cutler nei giorni dell'Ottawa Company) Fuchsia prendono un assetto definitivo con l'inclusione di tre ragazze specialiste degli archi (violino e violoncello): il suono folkprogressivo che ne scaturisce trova un eccellente produttore in David Hitchcock (autore di miracolosi equilibri orchestrali anche nel contesto Mellow Candle), e l'LP esce nel 1971 ... con la bellssima copertina di Anne Marie Anderson (v. Caravan). La scrittura di Durant valorizza efficacemente i contrasti tra le tinte forti del trio elettrico e quelle piu' gentili degli archi, suscitando la magia canterburiana di A Tiny Book come la danza folk-rock di Gone with the Mouse o il candore Beatlesiano di Me and My Kite...
...while albums from Trees, Pentangle, Spirogyra, Spriguns were generally known and appreciated, this album never got its deserved attention. It was left unknown for a much too long time. But never the less it has all the necessary elements : a powerful play, pre-Rahaelitic woman's voices, a beautiful male troubadour's voice with sometimes an almost female energy, many additional chamber music arrangements, long tracks, strong song structure, gifted individual approach...
Rumore - Marzo 2004 (di Claudio Sorge)
...aggraziati, raffinati,colti. Sapevano costruire canzoni forbite come minuetti
e impreziosirle di profumi etnopsichedelici, e di atmosfere jazzate, alla maniera
canterburiana. Puro struggimento e incanto sono brani come Gone With The
Mouse, vagamente barrettiana, ma piu' barocca; o la tempestosa The Nothing
Song, quasi la trasposizione pop di un madrigale del settecento, con cupi
arrangiamenti di archi e continuo, febbrile sottofondo di chitarre acustiche.
Originale, ricco di armonia eccelsa, inno alla gioia
dei sensi: opere come questa testimoniano una volta di piu' che grande, immenso
periodo musicale sia stato quello del progressive e della psichedelia inglese.
Musicbox - Gennaio/Febbraio 2004 (di Alberto Santamaria)
...…si parte con l'introduttiva Gone With The Mouse, un piccolo
gioiello di folk-progressive in cui le ariose atmosfere disegnate dagli strumenti
ad arco contrastano con l'acido incedere elettro-acustico dai contorni raffinati
ed eleganti. Alternando momenti delicati e introspettivi a parentesi maggiormente
sostenute, …si muovono i primi passi in questo viaggio sonoro ricco di
fascino e bellezza, sensazioni che si ripetono anche in A Tiny Book,
una lunga fiaba prog-psychedelica che si snoda ora inquieta ora tempestosa tra
i crepuscolari arazzi del cello e della chitarra acustica.
Gli arrangiamenti di violino, e viola manifestano ricordi di vivido barocchismo
senza mai scadere nella leziosità, e le sfumature complesse e articolate
vengono esorcizzate nelle suggestive alchimie di Another Nail, che esordisce
con una superba spirale di archi capaci di regalare solenni orchestrazioni colme
di pathos, prima che l'anima vera del brano prenda corpo, attraverso la fusione
di articolate trame ritmiche accompagnato al fraseggio ancestrale della musica.
Shoes & Ships sembra incanalarsi su registri malinconici, mentre
The Nothing Song presenta un'evoluta veste di folk obliquo e trasversale,
quasi drammatico in certi frangenti …impreziosita da increspature psichedeliche
mutuate…
Me And My Kite … riporta le soluzioni timbriche verso la dolcezza
della tradizione britannica del folk: melliflua e struggente, è una autentica
perla di matrice acustica…
Ugly Things - n°22 November 2004 (by Mike Stax)
...Led by songwriter Tony Durant, their unusual configuration comprised a three-piece (male) rock band and three (female) string players. If that brings to mind bearded visions of the Electric Light Orchestra, re-think; Fuchsia was something else altogether. While I've seen this LP described variously over the years as psychedelic, folk-rock or even prog rock, none of those labels adheres particularly comfortably to the music, although, to be fair, elements of all these genres are present. Fuchsia has a unabashedly olde English romanticism that brings to mind such favorites as Fairfield Parlour's From Home to Home, Kevin Ayers' Joy of A Toy or the Zombies Odessey and Oracle (the choirboy locked in the deserted cathedral vocal back-ups of "A Tiny Book" are particularly reminiscent of the latter). "The Nothing Song," meanwhile, comes from the same warped, surrealistic corner as some of Syd Barrett's solo work, while the eerie floating sound and swooping slides of "Just Anyone" are strongly suggestive of Syd's old chums not long after he departed. Because of the band's unique set-up, the string parts are seamlessly integrated into the songs in a way seldom heard in rock, and on the two opening tracks in particular, "Gone With the Mouse" and the aforementioned "A Tiny Book," one is tempted to draw comparisons with Forever Changes, especially when the sawing violins segue to and from minor-chord guitar arpeggios...
Islas De Robinson - Diciembre 2004
Folk-Rock británico algo progresivo (todas las piezas encajan perfectamente, no se me asusten). Un disco mágico con magníficas canciones arregladas exquisitamente con cellos y violines tocados por las 3 chicas del grupo. Sin embargo, las cuerdas en este caso no quedan en meros adornos, sino que se convierten en parte importante de las canciones, como un instrumento más. El resposanble principal de este artefacto es el guitarrista y voz principal Tony Durant, que además colaboró de forma directa en la imprescindible reedición llevada a cabo por el sello Night Wings (en vinilo y cd).
Shindig - January 2005 (by Paul Martin)
A musical realisation by Tony Durant, Fuchsia is as nectar to the ears. Originally
released in 1971 via the indie Kingdom label, Durant describes his vision of
Fuchsia as wanting to make string parts integral to the song, not something
that was added afterwards as embellishment. This he achieved majestically by
engaging the services of three young classically trained female string players...
With co-writer Robert Chudley, Durant and the girls crafted an album's worth
of breathtaking music. Durant wanted to take pop beyond the confines of the
three minute single and this he did successfully. However, he retains the melody
and hooks of a pop songwriter and the meld of pop intuition and progressive
melody and form makes Fuchsia a classic and even defining moment in early 70s
progressive music. The nearest analogy I can think of is of a heavily orchestrated
Fairfield Parlour. Orch-pop fans should love it for its form and flow, prog
fans as an antidote to the emphasis of 'rock' in prog, Fuchsia made progressive
music crisp and intelligent, dignified and sophisticated way beyond the pretensions
of some of their heavier and indeed lighter contemporaries ... A beautiful album
for long winter evenings...
Mojo - March 2005 (by John O'Regan)
...their sole 1971 LP straddled gothic beauty and horror, and remains a surreal blend of joy and madness, a bewitching compound of gothic acid-folk, Canterbury whimsy and pop melody, complete with Pre-Raphaelite femal backing vocals and highly ornate string arrangements...
...Fuchsia was unpredictable yet teemed with melody: eloquent string arrangements and rock rhythms collided and meshed with results veering from tempestuous to pastoral. 'Gone with the Mouse', and 'A Tiny Book' brought Syd Barrett-esque naiveté, 'Shoes and Ships' and the Durant/Chudley Louise-era collaboration 'Another Nail' were set to sweeping orchestral arrangements, while 'The Nothing Song' hovered in the realm of psychedelia . Then they added dreamy pop-rock with Chudley's 'Me and My Kite'(also from the Louise repertoire)and Durant's 'Just Anyone'...
NRC/Handelsblad - 2005 (by Jan Vollaard)
...an exceptionally beautiful combination of dreamy folk-pop and sophisticated
chambermusic, related to the psychedelia of LOVE's Forever Changes and the pastoral
sounds of Jethro Tull. ..As by a miracle this almost forgotten masterpiece remained
conserved, endless more subtle than Ekseption's pretentious interpretations
of Bach, and sweet as an afternoon in spring at the timeless English countryside.
Il Popolo Del Blues - Marzo 2005 (di Ernesto de Pascale)
...I Fuchsia, ascoltati oggi (quindi totalmente fuori contesto) non hanno niente di meno di tante altre grandi band del periodo se non che mancano loro i veri, grandi, epici pezzi che fecero la fortuna dei gruppi maggiori sopra citati. ... "Shoes and ships " e " Nothing song " sono quelli in cui il gruppo meglio si realizza e che piacerebbero ai Mercury Rev - la buona notizia è che resta però intatta tutta la magia dei Fuchsia, riascoltandoli a così tanti anni di distanza, e chi vorrà immaginarli giovani come nella foto con le loro alterne avventure potrà farlo facilmente. Merito di una ristampa coraggiosa del loro unico album di cui si è accorta anche la rivista inglese Mojo, dimostrazione, se mai ce ne fosse stato bisogno, di quanto affetto l'Italia abbia dimostrato verso la musica britannica di quegli anni allora e di quanto ancora oggi ne continui a dimostrare.
Heaven Pop Magazine - March, 2005 (by Pieter Wijnstekers)
Fuchsia made it to the hall of 'Forgotten Classics' in last month's Mojo. That's a lot of honour for such an obscure record, but it certainly isn't undeserved. Thanks to leader Tony Durant's excellent feeling for melody the, mostly long, compositions never collapse and neither do the songs vanish in a vague fog of too much freaking and too many drugs, as is the case with The Incredible String Band.
All Music Guide - (by Richie Unterberger)
...a little-noticed self-titled album in 1971 that, true to its name, was a fusion of various currents of early-'70s rock, particularly progressive rock and British folk-rock. While guitarist and lead singer Tony Durant was Fuchsia's main motor as the composer of most of the material, the band's chief distinguishing mark was its three-woman string section, including cellist Madeleine Bland (who also played piano and harmonium) and violinists Janet Rogers and Vanessa Hall-Smith; all three also contributed backing vocals. With fairly tuneful folk-rock-pop-ish songs whose progressions are unconventional enough that you often don't know quite where they're going, it's an interesting effort...Structurally and melodically, the songs ... are complex and unpredictably winding, not conforming to the usual formats and progressions of popular music. The all-woman, three-part string section ... gives the material some orchestral density, and though it's a long way from the thickness of the arrangements of Electric Light Orchestra, some might find the more understated lightness far more likable. The songs and vocals are more aligned with folk-rock, however, in their benign and slightly fanciful storytelling feel, speckled with mentions of water, sky, breeze, a king and his crown, "Me and My Kite," and the like. In parts, "Just Anyone" certainly seems like a nod in the direction of early-'70s Pink Floyd's lightest, most song-oriented material, complete with swooping slide guitar.
Anthems in Eden box set (Castle 2006) - (by David Wells)
The band's sole album was an exquisite blend of literate lyrics, Durant's effete vocals and some lush baroque arrangements, recorded with the considerable aid of producer David Hitchcock
