Albums: Burn the Sun, Ark, Caliente

There are at least 7 acts who have chosen the name ARK: a Norwegian progressive metal band, a Contemporary Christian band, a pop band from Bangladesh, a French minimal/experimental house producer, a British rock group, an American rock group, and another British rock group. 1. ARK is a Norwegian progressive metal band resulting from the friendship and musical collaboration of guitarist Tore Østby (Conception) and drummer John Macaluso (ex-TNT, Yngwie Malmsteen), who later joined up with singer Jørn Lande (Jorn, ex-Masterplan) to record two acclaimed albums.

Lande, Østby and Macaluso were joined by Randy Coven (Steve Vai, Steve Morse) on bass and Mats Olaussen (Yngwie Malmsteen) on keyboards for their second effort, Burn the Sun. Due to the similarity of their names, ARK are often mistaken for The Ark, a Swedish glam rock band. There is no connection between the two.

2. Ark recorded a single album, "...The Angels Come" in 1979 for Spirit Records, featuring a style of Contemporary Christian music similar to the Beatles, from the "Rubber Soul" era.

3. Ark is a pop band from Bangladesh. It went through many transformations and in the album Tajmahal presented a mix of progressive rock, pop and raggae!Its main protagonist is their keyboard player, and they helped launch the career of singer Hasan and guitarist Pancham.

4. French minimal/experimental house producer. (Real Name: Guillaume Berroyer) www.discogs.com/artist/Ark 5.

A short-lived Devon-based rock group, members of which went on to join Hawkwind, initially under the name Hawklords. 6. Simpsonville, South Carolina trio whose mega-rare custom lp sounds remarkably like The Doors, both instrumentally and vocally.

Ark rocks quite strongly on the ‘Roadhouse Blues’-ish opener ‘When The Son Comes Out’, the heavily fuzzed ‘Sidewalk Preacherman’ and the instrumental ‘In The Desert’ (which has some neat air raid siren effects). The bulk of the album, however, suggests The Doors’ softer side - a most welcome sound completely unexplored in Christian music. Witness the playful psychedelia of ‘New Civilization?’ with its surreal stroll-along groove, fluttering flute flourishes and extended spacey electric guitar noodling.

Or the dreamy adrift mood of the ballad ‘Sea Of Life’ and the ethereal harmonics of the acoustic instrumental ‘Peace Of Mind’. ‘Blue Angel’ and ‘Drifting’ both have irresistible loungy electric grooves that capture what Jim Morrison might have sounded like had he gotten saved and begun singing at Holiday Inns. In fact the lead vocals are generally relaxed throughout, even on the heavier selections.

Good electric guitar work throughout by Eddie Herold, rounded out by bandmates Charles Moses (bass, acoustic guitar) and Lee Henderson (drums, percussion). Forget that late date - this stuff sounds more like 1970. Cool primitive b&w cover art.

Was valued at one point around $1000, due no doubt to reports that only 100 were made, though copies do seem to turn up occasionally. A more affordable Belgian re-issue appeared in 1994. (Heavenly Grooves - heavenly-grooves.blogspot.com) 7.

ARK were a Birmingham/Black Country based band from the UK, who came from the ashes of local bands Damascus and Kite. Over their 10 year existence they forged a path between progressive rock, traditional rock and pop. Released two albums, 'The Dreams Of Mr Jones' and 'Spiritual Physics', and two EPs, 'New Scientist EP' and 'Cover Me With Rain EP', together with several cassette only singles and EPs, and featured on a BBC Radio One Rock Wars competition, winning a chance to record a prestigious Radio One session.

The band featured Ant Short (vocals), Pete Wheatley (guitar), Steve Harris (guitar synth), Gel Newey (bass) and Paul Rodgers (drums). Previous members included John Jowitt (bass), now of IQ and Jadis fame, Richard Deane (drums), Hugh Edwards (drums), Gary Davis (drums), Dave Robbins (drums) and Andy Harris (bass). Ant and Pete went on to form Grass, while Gel went on to join The Press Darlings, Champagne Hedgehog, Glam Slam and is currently with Pop Punk revolutionaries Bleeding Hearts.

Similar artists include: IQ, Jadis, Pallas, Marillion, Peter Gabriel, Bleeding Hearts For more information see The ARK Appreciation Pages at ark.grango.org

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