Passport: Looking Thru

Album: Looking Thru

Artist: Passport

Year: 1974

Songs of note: Eternal Spiral, Rockport

Jazz/Rock fusion is not a musical style I often frequent, the few times I have encountered it, namely Jeff Beck's Wired and Blow by Blow I have enjoyed it. With Jeff Beck, you get a more guitar driven sound. With Passport, the sax is the focus on most of the tracks. Klaus Doldinger is the creative force behind Passport and has remained active in music into the 2000's. A side note on the cover, before this project I don't recall ever seeing green people on the cover of albums. Now with Passport and previously Blind Date the number is now two. Very strange.

The first side starts strongly enough with "Eternal Spiral". The sound is very similar to Yes on this track but the sound moves in a jazzier direction and the drumming is superb. I am not a technical musician but I believe the time signatures used are complex. The following tracks on side one straddle the line between Kenny G and 70's game or variety show music with some keyboard that is frequently cutting in and out.

Side two starts with "Tarantula", which is not nearly as scary as the title would indicate. Just another jazzy/fusion number with some smooth sounds. Very polished. The only other song that struck me was a keyboard portion of "Eloquence". It sounded very similar to "Girl's Just Want to Have Fun". This was 1974. She's so Unusual didn't come out until 1984.

This is not a musical style I enjoy. The songs might be interesting to someone with more of a jazz background but I have no desire to listen to any of these songs ever again. If you are a fan of fusion than check this out. I will give you this album because I don't plan on keeping it.