Brian Auger's Oblivion Express - Oblivion Express LP [Strut]

Format: LP in printed sleeve.
CAT: SBM024LP

Strut Records presents a fresh look at Oblivion Express, the 1971 album that marked Brian Auger's turn towards a new musical frontier. After years shaping the sound of British jazz-soul with The Trinity, Auger entered the new decade with a smaller, electrified ensemble and a renewed sense of purpose. This record captures the exact moment that transformation takes shape.

Oblivion Express introduced a sound distinctly Auger's own. Rather than replicating the fusion emerging in the United States, he developed a language rooted in the British jazz underground, resulting in an expansive jazz rock / prog-fusion album, with huge drums and Auger's virtuoso organ playing. Between bassist Barry Dean and drummer Robbie McIntosh, the album naturally moves between precise, articulated phrases and broader, improvised passages. The trio's interplay forms the foundation of the record and defines the sound that would characterize the band's early years.

The opening track, "Dragon Song," kicks off with a restless energy that immediately signals Auger's new direction. The keyboardist decided to record this version of a John McLaughlin piece (his friend and former bandmate in The Nitty Gritty), after hearing the album Devotion during its mixing at Record Plant studios in New York. Auger was struck and recalled: "My God, this is incredible. I wanted to record it myself, and I did!"

Pieces like "Total Eclipse" showcase the group's mastery of dynamic contrast, while the title track "Oblivion Express" explores the band's cinematic and compositional potential through contained moments that grow into melodic explosions. The riff-laden track "The Sword" would later become known for its use by Madlib in the 2014 tracks "Yeti Movie" and "Parodies."

In retrospect, Oblivion Express remains a masterpiece of jazz-inclined and prog rock, and a foundational moment within Auger's catalog. It captures the starting point of a new, more focused, more urgent sound, fully committed to the possibilities of jazz-rock at the beginning of the seventies. The album remains a vivid document of a band discovering its identity and laying the groundwork for the series of influential releases that would follow.