David Sancious and Tone

Iconoclassic Records brings a long-lost album from E Street Band charter member David Sancious to CD.  After playing piano, organ and keys on Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ; The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle; and the title track of Born to Run, Sancious founded Tone with bassist Gerry Carboy and another former E Streeter, drummer Ernest "Boom" Carter. Fans expecting the Jersey Shore sound were in for a surprise: Tone were influenced by prog and jazz fusion, and Dance of the Age of Enlightenment - a four-movement ballet - was no different. The album was awash in painstakingly overdubbed keyboards and synths and featured vocals from Mahavishnu Orchestra/Return to Forever singer Gayle Moran and another vocalist on the shore scene named Patti Scialfa (who would later marry Springsteen). Despite its artistic merits, Sancious' label Arista projected little commercial fortunes, and the album was shelved after a rare promotional issue squeaked out.  That all changes with this CD premiere, newly remastered from the original tapes by Sancious himself. (He's also penned liner notes for the package, which features John Sellards' restoration of the original album artwork.) Fans of '70s prog and fusion will find this one irresistible.