Ekseption - The 5th (1998)

Ekseption was a Dutch rock band active from 1967 to 1989, playing mostly-instrumental progressive rock and classical rock. The central character in the changing roster, and the only band member present on every album, was conservatory-trained trumpeter Rein van den Broek (10 September 1945 - 11 May 2015). The band knew some commercial success in the 1970s, having Dutch top ten hit singles with their adaptations of Beethoven's "Fifth" and Bach's (Celebrated) "Air." The second album, "Beggar Julia's time trip" (1969), won the Dutch Edison Award for album of the year, and the first five albums all went gold.

Don't be fooled by the title: This is not a reissue of the Ekseption 5 album, the LP by which the group was best-known among art rock fans in the United States -- that doesn't mean it's not worth owning, merely that one should temper one's expectations. The 5th opens with "The 5th," the group's three-minute classical pastiche centered principally on the first movement of Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5 in C Minor," with detours into the "Moonlight Sonata," with parts for trumpets, Nice-era Keith Emerson-style organ, and other accessible touchstones of the period, all of which make it sound like a lost track from the second or third Nice albums on Immediate. Material derived from Bach ("Air," i.e. "Air On A G-String"), Gershwin ("Rhapsody In Blue"), Albinoni ("Adagio"); and more are here in profusion -- missing, alas, is Ekseption's cover of a Nice original, "For Example/For Sure," which appeared on Ekseption 5. Today, with the house bands on every late-night talk show working out their rock and classical inclinations regularly side-by-side, hearing a stripped-down progressive rock outfit cover "Rhapsody In Blue," doesn't have the distinction that it would have had in 1969 -- the era in which Hambro & Kingsley did Gershwin: Alive And Well (And Underground) -- but it's still entertaining; "A La Turka/Piano Sonata No. 11" is the most entertaining track here, and serves to remind listeners where the group's Dutch compatriots, Focus, got their introduction to "Hocus Pocus." The sound throughout is excellent, and at 62 minutes the disc is reasonably generous, though there is no annotation, just a track list and a plug for other reissues from Philips' rock catalog.