Active during the early to mid-70s Carmen where are American-British band that blended prog, rock, and flamenco music/ dance. Here’s a CD boxset bringing together the band's three albums ( plus bonus tracks) -which shifted ‘n’ darted between the playful, groovy, spacy, flamboyant, and tunefully urgent. 

The three CD boxset appears on Esoteric Recordings- the prog rock/ related label of Cherry Red. The CDs, each in their own card sleeves, come presented in a flipside card box. This takes in yellow & white texts, set against a spacy black & bluish backdrop. Included is a glossy sixteen-page inlay booklet- this features a seven-page write-up about the band/ albums and groovy pictures of the band.

Carmen were formed in the year 1970 by David Clark Allen- a Mexican/American Californian guitarist.  They started in LA as a seven-piece, before moving to London in early 1973 thinning down to a quintet. The band where active until 1975- in their time supporting the likes of Jethro Tull, Santana, Blue Öyster Cult, and Electric Light Orchestra.

The first disc takes in the band’s 1973 debut album  Fandangos In Space- which appeared on Regal Zonophone, EMI, been produced by  David Bowie/ Mark Boland collaborator/ producer Tony Visconti. The line-up for this album was David Clark Allen - lead vocals, electric & flamenco guitars. Roberto Amaral - lead and backing vocals, vibraphone, castanets. Angela Allen - lead and backing vocals, synthesizer, Mellotron. John Glascock - backing vocals, bass guitar, bass pedals, and Paul Fenton - drums, percussion. It was an eleven-track album- with the CD here just taking in the album's tracks and no bonuses.

The album opens up with “Bulerias”- a three-part track that marries urgent 70 rock riffing & flamenco percussion/ stomp, with darts into Latin-tinged prog, clean guitar strum/ harmonies, and footwork breakdowns. As we move through the first half of the album we go from “Sailor Song” which moves from its seagull/ sea sound effects to clean guitar & harmonies opening. Onto it’s more spritely & spacy synth-swooned Jethro Tull-like main riffing, with its layered male & female backing vocals. 

In the second half, we move from wailing amassed singing/ stop-start electric/ acoustic guitars of “Tales Of Spain”- which later moves into some great stretching/ spacy synths and spoken word elements before shifting into moments bounding harmony touched prog. Or the flamboyant and shifting title track- which moves from an urgent rock and flamenco crossbreed, into funk rock workouts, cascading harmony meets bright rock glide ‘n’ slide, to rising gospel rock.  As debuts go Fandangos In Space is one hell of a ride- wonderfully darting in & out of genres, with effortless shifting in pace/ tone.

Moving onto disc number two we have 1974’s  Dancing On A Cold Day- this was a nine-track album- with this CD finished off with two bonus tracks. From the off, we’re straight into urgent fusion with “Viva Mi Sevilla” which blends flamenco strum, thick bounding rock bass, and detailed percussive detail- it feels like the whole thing could drop through the floor with its mix of bass & layered percussion, though we do get more atmospheric edges too with moody synth/ vibe tone washes appearing later.  As we move through the first half we have the dramatic and building “Drifting Along” with its opening strummed clean guitars & lite percussion, and soulful layered/  lead baritone to falsetto male vocals. Which later shifts early King Crimson acoustic meets rocking guitar workouts.

In the second half, we have the rousing female-led vocals of “Gypsy Girl( Cavan)” which sounds like Jefferson Airplane, with more Latin flare & pulse in their musical veins. There’s strutting rock guitar & piano keys meets soring psych pop chorus “Time( She’s No Lady)”. The album plays out with “Conclusion( She Changed)” with swooping synth, pared back harmonic strum, and sailing/ wailing male-female vocals- and subtle/ cute castanets chatter.  Dancing On A Cold Day is a great follow-up album, really showing the growth of the band's genre-mixing & creative flare.

Finally, on disc number three, we have 1975’s The Gypsies- which saw the band singing to Mercury. This is a nine-track affair- with two bonus tracks on. And I’m afraid to say the sound here largely feels a lot more controlled/ distilled into the more formal rock/ AOR setting. Sure there is still some strutt, swagger, and urgency to the tracks- but it often feels overproduced/ ironed out in both its sound and the song's structure themselves- with little surprise/ shift we found on the first two albums. The band can certainly write memorable songcraft- but it’s clear they are most certainly steered to a mainstream 70’s rock audience. So as a result, we have a just ok rock album- with only flits of the band's more adventurous side. “Shady Lady” moves from acoustic/ electric strummed verse onto its bounding bass/sing-along chorus. “Joy” is all pulsing guitar/ bass throb & layered twee vocals, and lyrics about the laughter of the kids next door.  “Come Back” is very typical 70’s AOR- with a steadily stomping verse groove, and amassed/ sway sing-song chorus. If I were to compare this album to anything, I say it’s akin to the latter Incredible String Band albums where they abandoned most of their quirky/ weird edges for a more formal rock sound.  So The Gypsies is fine, for what it is a mid-quality-70s rock album- but it largely sounds almost like a different band.

In finishing, The Albums 1973- 1975 takes in two revelatory albums that effortlessly blend/ blur genres, and one rather mediocre 70’s rock album. On the whole, I’d certainly highly recommend this boxset if you enjoy fusion rock/ prog….just don’t expect too much from the final disc.