The Sleeper Wakes [Deluxe Edition] [Original recording remastered]

1. Fire in the Head

2. Sleeper Wakes

3. Right

4. What Is - Is What

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Previously unreleased album from 1972 by Mott The Hoople's keyboardist before he joined them. Others on the album include Tim Staffell, who was in Smile with Roger Taylor & Brian May before they formed Queen. May contributed a personal introduction on the sleeve notes. Four tracks. 1999 release.

Tracks:

Fire in the Head
Sleeper Wakes
Right
What Is - Is What

Album Description

Previously unreleased album from 1972 by Mott The Hoople's keyboardist before he joined them. Others on the album include Tim Staffell, who was in Smile with Roger Taylor & Brian May before they formed Queen. May contributed a personal introduction on the sleeve notes. Four tracks. 1999 release.

Album Details

First Ever Release for this 1972 Prog Rock Album from Morgan Fisher (Pre-Mott the Hoople), Recorded for RCA but Never Released. Remastered, Deluxe Packaging.

Customer Reviews:

Noteworthy Effort.......2005-06-06

This release truely represents the proggy sound of the 70's. Noncommercial, surreal, impetuous, strange, ethereal, offbeat; all adequate adjectives to describe the five tracks on this CD. Hammond Organ, VCS-3 synth, piano and soaring vocals. Dissonance mixed with symphonic melodies, polyrhythmic structures. The sound is very reminiscent of King Crimson's "Lark Tongue in Aspic" or "Lizard". To some degree this CD also reminds me of the first Flash album recalling Tony Kaye's keyboard passages and Colin Carter's high pitched vocals. The lyrics are somewhat dated and goofy but the music stands on its own. From a composition standpoint I would give it a 3 to 3.5 out of 5. Production quality is excellent on this remaster, 5 out of 5. Overall, "The Sleeper Wakes" is a noteworthy effort and progressive rock enthusiasts should seek this one out especially for the epic "What Is - Is What".

Ambition sans Originality.......2002-06-17

This is progressive rock, but Morgan doesn't show an ounce of originality, and makes the critical reception of prog look better than the knee-jerk anti-prog reviews from the same time period actually were. This music is over-produced, needlessly complex, and studied.

Many musicians have ambitions, want to stretch their talents, and show-off a little. Morgan is no slouch musically, but he is not a gifted enough composer to let fly in an interesting way.

A curiousity, that, while no means bad, doesn't come up to the work of Morgan's coeval prog players, ELP, Yes, Gentle Giant or even King Crimson, from whom Morgan borrows the tune of "Ladies of the Road" for one of his songs.

Amazing and overlooked prog rock!.......2001-08-11

If you collect progressive rock albums like I do, you'll have those days you'll run across a relatively unknown and overlooked prog rock album and you are nothing short of amazed, like this one. Let's get a few facts straight. This album was not previously unreleased. It was recorded in 1973, but it first surfaced right here in America in 1976 with a different title called "Brown Out" which was released on a small label called Import (which also released Mainhorse, a 1971 band with Patrick Moraz, pre-Refugee and pre-Yes, and Acqua Fragile's Mass-Media Stars here in the US). I own the original "Brown Out" so I should know. A British label called Cherry Red had then released this album in 1978 with a new title, called "The Sleeper Wakes" which is also the same title as the CD reissue. Morgan was actually a name of the band featuring keyboardist Morgan Fisher with drummer Mo Bacon, vocalist Tim Staffell, and bassist Bob Sapsed. Basically the band has connections with Love Affair, Smile (a pre-Freddie Mercury version of Queen), and Mott the Hoople, so this does not sound too encouraging to the diehard prog fan like myself, but trust me, this is some of the best keyboard-driven prog I have heard in the longest time! If you like the likes of Yes, ELP, and Gentle Giant with tons of wonderful Wakeman/Emerson style keyboards played on Hammond organ, piano, electric piano, and VCS-3 synthesizer, you will love "The Sleeper Wakes"! Each of the four cuts are wonderful complex and energetic prog rock with tons of great themes. Not a single cut on this album is under five minutes. While the whole album is simply wonderful, the real highlight is the 19:51 minute "What Is - Is What", which is simply one of my favorite side length cuts ever. Throughout the album, you get your share of corny lyrics (i.e. "If you can hear you're deaf, and if you're deaf then you must've heard" from "What Is - Is What") as well as some insane spoken dialogue off "The Right" ("Who spent all of his life in an invisible submarine", for example). Seems to be both "The Right" and "What Is - Is What" were based on some sort of Utopian society in which closer examination reveals little progress was actually made. Morgan's "The Sleeper Wakes" really suprised me beyond belief. The only reason why this album (as well as Morgan's previous release "Nova Solis", recorded and released in 1972) is so overlooked by prog rock junkies everywhere was the musical background of the musicians (especially for the fact Morgan Fisher himself joined Mott the Hoople after "The Sleeper Wakes" aka "Brown Out" was recorded). So if you're a diehard prog rock junkie like myself, buy this album!

Average customer rating:

Sleeper Wakes
Morgan
Manufacturer: Wheezy Multimedia
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD
ASIN: B0002B657E
Release Date: 2000-02-15

Average customer rating:

The excellent final album by proggers Morgan

Sleeper Wakes
Morgan
Manufacturer: Angel Air Records
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Celtic | International | Styles | Music
ASIN: B00004D3AG
Release Date: 2000-02-15

Tracks:

Fire In The Head
The Sleeper Wakes
The Right
What Is - Is What

Customer Reviews:

The excellent final album by proggers Morgan.......2006-12-12

This is such an amazing English prog band and it is a shame that they are not more widely known. This 1973 album has everything that I look for in a prog band and then some and I consider it yet another one of those fantastic discoveries. According to the liner notes, this album was released in a few different versions during the late 1970's and included a different title ("Brown Out). Recorded in the RCA studios in Rome, Italy, this is one well-produced album and features the unbelievable virtuosic keyboard skills of Morgan Fisher; a keyboardist I would place alongside Rick Wakeman, Keith Emerson, Patrick Moraz, and Tony Banks.

Joining Morgan (synthesizers (VCS3), Hammond organ, and piano) are; Tim Staffell (vocals; spoken word passage); the late Bob Sapsed (fretless bass); Mo Bacon (drums; percussion). Although all of the musicians are excellent and hold their own, the playing of Morgan Fisher is simply mesmerizing. He is incredible and plays with such passion that it is frightening. He is also capable of very delicate passages too. The fretless bass is also a nice touch, although Bob does not play it like a fretless - he was used to a fretted bass and avoids glissandos etc. He is a great player and works well with energetic drummer Mo (Maurice). Tim Staffell is a great vocalist and has a somewhat unusual, high pitched voice.

The four tracks on the album range in length from 5'01" to the epic 19'56" track "What is - is what". The music is very, very complex and features some mind numbingly intricate ensemble work - just what you would expect from a full-blown prog album. There are some very interesting arrangements, including very experimental passages too. The melodies are what get me and it is clear that Morgan spent a lot of time on them - I guess it could be said that there is somewhat of a "song" at the core of each piece. I also heard a few references to other English prog bands. For example, according to the liner notes written by Morgan Fisher, King Crimson's track "Cat Food" was the inspiration for The Right. Morgan was also obviously influence by classical and avant-garde composers (he cited Stockhausen and Varese). My favorite track is the nearly 20 minute epic, which is an exceptionally well put together piece of music.

This remastered version features extensive liner notes written by Morgan Fisher that include his recollections of the times in general and his notes on each individual track. The sound quality is also excellent.

This album is very highly recommended to proggers along with the debut album Nova Solis (1972).

Rock Music:

Rock Music