AMALGAM — Samanna (review)

AMALGAM — Samanna album cover Album · 1977 · Fusion Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
Sean Trane
Second-last album (I think) before Amalgam would loose its name and become Trevor Watts’ personal vehicle (not that it wasn’t before), and Samana sees the returnof Peter “Mars” Cowling (of Gnidrolog and Pat Travers Band fame) on bass (thus giving Amalgam a double bass-guitar attack, each on its own L or R channel) and Dave Cole on guitar. Recorded in the very early part of 77, Samanna is graced by a purple & orange geometric artwork that doesn’t speak well for its musical contents.

The opening sidelong title track is a wild fusion piece with some slightly dissonant passages, but the wild double bass-guitar attack is quite impressively funky (ala Stanley Clarke) and drives effortlessly the track throughout its 21-mins duration. Cole’s guitar shines occasionally (notably in the 2/3 to3/4 of the track. but mostly remains discrete, leaving clear the 8-lane freeway open to Watt’s wild sax meanderings.

Over the flipside, the 5-mins Mass features a cooler funky fusion, still double-bassed, where the twins take turn in playing lead bass over a “simple” descending sax riff. The B-side’s highlight is the almost 15-mins Unity, despite a slow start, where Watts lets it all hang out, but the bass twins slowly and gradually clutch in the overdrive gear, letting Cole’s guitar get a wide chunk of funk in the mix as well. As the track climaxed around its 2/3, it slowly dies down to nought. The 7-mins Berlin Wall closes the album in a pronounced dissonant sax spree, which was not a wise choice to close Samanna.

Well, Amalgam’s musical directions vary much from album to album, but Samanna is firmly entrenched in the funky jazz-fusion and this is no doubt due to the two bass players complimenting each other marvellously as if they were twins from birth onwards. Watts’ sax adventures are indeed still the driving force of the album, but here, the twin bass-cylinder unleash plenty of energy and power to the aural expansions on this slice of wax
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