Potemkine - Nicolas II (1978) (Full Album) [Psych/Prog/Space Rock, Fusion, Zeuhl]

This was POTEMKINE’s last album and like ZAO (who went from Zeuhl to Jazz / Rock) there’s not really any Zeuhl left in their sound. As a matter of fact this sounded to me like a straight up Fusion record for the most part. Very well done of course. This is also their only release without vocal melodies on it. Potemkine’s third and final album is their strongest, and is something of an overlooked classic of late 70s prog. Following Triton the band became a quartet again with Michel Goubin back on keyboards, and there had also been a period of intense gigging including opening for Magma on several occasions. All this made for a much tighter and more confident band than previously, both in terms of writing and playing. The sound of Nicholas II takes the Zeuhl of Magma’s Attahk and adds the jazz fusion of Mahavishnu Orchestra, Brand X and Billy Cobham circa Spectrum. The arrangements are dominated by the interplay of electric piano and guitar, with Charles Goubin turning in some excellen