FOURTH ESTATE
Dustbuster Demos (Hapi Skratch)
Finesse And Fury (Hapi Skratch)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale

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Fourth Estate, the prime exponents of Rocky Mountain prog rock throughout the nineties, were survivors of an earlier foray into the field as Scepter, a quartet that included a vocalist. That lineup was short-lived, and after a period of musical and geographic separation, guitarist Dave Beegle, bassist Fred Babich and drummer Jim Iltis came together again in 1987 to explore the musical possibilities of a prog-power trio. As they began that exploration, they also began recording some tracks, primarily on basement 4-track setups, that eventually became cassette-only releases, offering fans a little something to take home as the band started playing out. Those early tapes have become rarities, but the music remains timeless, and now 19 of the best cuts from those three cassettes have been collected on Dustbuster Demos. They include some pre-reunion efforts, particularly the three 1986 tracks credited to Iltis, some early original compositions and covers of everything from prog classics like "Locomotive Breath" and "Hocus Pocus" to the Bacharach chestnut "The Look Of Love" to an adaptation of Paganini's "Caprice 20." Whatever they played, the members of Fourth Estate played it with skill and energy, and regardless of its humble origins, Dustbuster Demos is an album well worth the interest of any prog rock fan.

That skill and energy was soon translated into Finesse And Fury, the first official release by the trio. Appearing in 1992, it presents a band with almost a decade of experience together, including five years of rehearsal, recording and gigging as a threesome, so although it's a debut album, it's a thoroughly mature musical unit, demonstrating sensitive and supportive interplay as the group attacks a challenging set of original tunes (with one adaptation of a J.S. Bach theme). It also features the introduction of a Beegle invention, the Transperformance Self-Tuning Guitar System, which extended the range of sounds available to the guitarist, creating a deceptively rich pallet of sound. They carefully note that "No synthesizers, keyboards or samplers were used in this recording." You won't miss 'em. The sound is rich and these newly remastered tracks are impeccable reproductions of one of the outstanding instrumental contributions to American progressive rock. The album has been out of print since 1999 (although it's perhaps more notable that an indie album in the prog rock field remained in print for seven years) and its return is highly welcome.

Track Lists:

Dustbuster Demos: Hello * Dance Of The Spider Monkey * War Of The Worlds * Locomotive Breath * Hoedown * Someday * Kentucky Burgoo * Sweep The Floor * Hocus Pocus * Hammer Song * Paganini-Come All Ye Faithful * The Optimist * Night Drive * Look Of Love * Bass Monger/Space Zoo * Russian * Rhythm Solo * Phil's Lament * Meet Me There

Finesse And Fury: Joy * Cornerstone * Grunt Rock * Mason Street Shuffle * Juggernaut * Routier * Reflections * Remnant * Burning Bridges * Highlander * Pipedream * Sorefinger Road

© 2002 - Shaun Dale