Francis Monkman – Energism (1978, LP, England)

Tracklist:
A1 The Dawn Of An Era (Realisation Of Unlimited Possibility) 3:10
A2 The Endurance Of Man (Expenditure Of Energy) 2:58
A3 Perpetual Motion (Unceasing Energy) 3:56
A4 Perpetual Motion (Alternate Cut Off End) 0:14
A5 The Achievements Of Man (The Determination To Achieve Great Heights) 3:28
A6 The Achievements Of Man (Alternate Tail End) 0:25
B7 Man & Superman (The Endless Turmoil) 3:30
B8 Man & Superwoman (Power With A Feline Structure) 3:16
B9 Female Of The Species (A Study In The Female Infra-structure) 2:57
B10 Bionics (Power Without Suppression - The Eternity) 2:07
B11 The Ascent Of Man (The Power Within Us) 1:59

Musicians:

Bass Guitar – Mo Foster

Drums – Barry De Souza

Percussion – Tristam Fry

Written-By, Keyboards – Francis Monkman

The first solo album released in 1979 by Francis Monkman, a British keyboard player who played on Al Stewart's early works and on Curved Air. Originally released on a British library label called Bruton, Klaus Schulze licensed it and re-released it on Innovative Communication. The composition consists of keyboards, percussion, drums, and bass, and the music is metallic and clear electric jazz-rock. The album features a mix of arpeggio synths, spacy synth SEs, and technical band sounds in the electric symphonic rock of A2/A3.

Francis Monkman ‎– Tempus Fugit (1978, LP, England)

Francis Monkman shows great talent for his debut as a Library Music composer, after being a member of Curved Air, Renaissance and Sky. In few words, this LP is a ready-to-use score for action-driven movies with a fairly constant quality and creative songwriting (e.g. the harpsichord appearing on few tracks such as "Mystique" is lovely).
Propelled by nervous funky beats and catchy synthetic riffs, the A-side is a non-stop suite of dynamic songs with a distinct urban/futuristic feeling: "Strident Theme", "Speed", "G-Force" and "Live Action" are truly astounding. It could fit in one those 1980s B-movies, to illustrate some crazy car chases between mutants and android cops in decaying American city. The artwork presents a futuristic spaceship, so a plot line about fierce aliens is doomed to appear… After all, the Bruton "BRI" serie was reserved for futuristic/electronic releases.
Calmer tunes are relegated on the B-side: they're more suitable for suspenseful scenes (the tense "Daredevil" and "Stress"), chill moments ("Getting Ready" is spiced by a nice keyboard melody towards the end) or meditative pauses but they are less impressive despite their arrangements (the ending "Art and Science"): the dreamy "Stargazing" is also pure, delicious fluff. Nonetheless, the peaceful "Starlight" has a surprising heavy break at 2:26.
Overall, Tempus Fugit is a very solid debut with good cheese and great hooks that don't sound too synthetic. FYI the rest of his trilogy for Bruton Music is equally good and is among the best LPs of the BRI collection. (search: RYM)