Oblivion Express - Oblivion Express (1970)

After the breakup of Trinity, Brian Auger’s previous – and successful – 1960s group, Brian Auger put together jazz rock/fusion group Oblivion Express of which this 1970 release is their debut. Occupying a slightly less frenetic approach, the style adopted here is somewhat akin to Birds Of Fire-era Mahavishnu Orchestra with Jim Mullen providing some solid guitar playing and Auger’s skillful keyboard work providing some powerful instrumentation, although modestly not over-dominating the album.

Dragon Song is storming opening number with great soloing from Auger and a meandering riff along similar lines to Resolution from the Mahavishnu Orchestra (and penned by John McLaughlin), played with real power and passion. I’ve mentioned elsewhere that an essential ingredient for largely-instrumental albums has to be light and shade and this point is not lost on Auger as the second track, Total Eclipse, is a mesmerizing meandering riff over which Mullen and Auger provide extended solo pieces to good effect.

Another point that won’t be lost on readers of this website is my general disapproval of vocals creeping into what would otherwise be great instrumental albums. Sadly this is the case here on The Light which is an up-tempo piece that would have been much better served overlaid with soloing than a rather hurried and void of hooks vocal line. When the vocals subside however, Auger lets rip with a real high-tempo keyboard solo and thus rescues the piece.

On The Road is another vocal-led track in double-time and tends to provide a rather bland feel to otherwise strong instrumentation from the rest of the band. Mullen here takes the lead with a high-speed solo that once more saves a number from drifting into ‘oblivion’. Robbie Macintosh also provides a good performance on this number.

A guitar-led piece follows in Sword with strong solo sections from both Mullen and Auger, once the vocals shut up! The title track is also a powerful piece and opens with an expansive instrumental piece followed by a bit of vocals then a move up-tempo and some fluid Mullen soloing leading to a cacophonous build from Auger.

Whilst this is a strong debut for Auger’s new project, in my opinion he should have dropped the vocals completely and really gone for it with the instrumentation. There are some staggeringly good instrumental passages on Oblivion Express but their overall style doesn’t lend itself to songs in a traditional sense and thus the inclusion of vocals – much as it did with Atomic Rooster and latter-day Mahavishnu Orchestra – rather killed and held-back what would otherwise be some fine musical moments: a pity but still very much worth a listen from a very underrated group!

• Brian Auger – Keyboards
• Jim Mullen – Guitar
• Barry Dean – Bass
• Robbie McIntosh – Drums