El Bufó de la Cort (The Jester of the Court)

The first production of Dr.No is "El Bufó de la Cort" (The Jester of the Court) (2003). During some time it was distributed directly as a self-production from this website. In may-2003 the official edition by the dutch records company specialized in symphonic and progressive rock Xymphonia Records was released. This edition was remastered at the company studios in Apeldoorn.

Or you can order the CD e-mailing the band at drno@llobet.com (12 euros + mailing costs)

"El Bufó de la Cort" released by Xymphonia Records was presented at the International Progressive Festival in Tiana (close to Barcelona) the 10th of may 2003.

The edition of "El Bufó de la Cort" with lyrics in catalan is being distributed to Europe and the rest of the world with the texts printed in the booklet both in catalan and in english.

This CD is a work from Enric Pascual (vocals, drums and keyboard) and Conrad Dubé (bass, backing vocals and keyboard), with the colaboration of Pere Mestres at the guitar, Jaume Moncusí as sound engineer, and Dani Anguera in some guitars.

The songs in the album"El Bufó de la Cort" include:

With the actual line-up of Dr.No is preparing new songs for the next album, that will come up in 2004.

Some Reviews of el Bufó

Rockcatalà.com (Catalunya)

Parlar de Dr.No és parlar basicament de les inquietuds musicals de l'Enric Pascual, un músic de Salou que en el seu dia també va liderar els Harnakis, un grup de rock progressiu en anglès que fins i tot va traspassar l'Atlàntic. Més tard va reaparèixer amb els CAT, on va voler provar amb el pop-rock i amb qui van editar un únic disc. En Dr.No, Pascual s'ha aliat amb el músic barceloní Conrad Dubé, qui reapareix en el panorama musical després d'haver estat el guitarrista de la cantant Laura Martí ara fa una bona colla d'anys. Ells han estat basicament els encarregats de marcar les directrius alhora d'enregistrar aquest primer disc. El resultat n'és 'El Bufó de la Cort', un conjunt de set temes en prop de cinquanta minuts que aconsegueix traslladar-nos els sentiments imaginaris que s'expressen en les seves lletres gràcies a una bona instrumentació que ens remet a primeres figures del gènere com ara els Yes.

El curiós d'aquest primer disc és que ha estat editat per Xymphonia Records, discogràfica holandesa especialitzada en rock progressiu. D'aquest fet n'haurien d'aprendre moltes discogràfiques especialitzades i obrir-se a noves propostes deixant de banda la llengua amb què s'expressin.

Hairless Heart Herald (U.K.)

From Spain, Dr.No brings us nearly 50 minutes of a nice mixture of sounds. Sung in their native Spanish tongue, this will be well received in Spain or South America, and of course the many who like to hear other languages sung, like me, in bands such as PFM and Grobschnitt.

Formed from other bands, as most bands are these days, there is an interesting mix to the sound. Being well produced too, makes this a pleasant listen, with a lot of instruments thrown into the mix. The Marillion and late period Genesis influences are quite strong, but the vocals are a little soft, but they work well in the package. Five tracks all around the 6-7 minute mark, plus the end cut the title track, which clocks in at 10:48, sound quite different to each other, and with the usual army of keyboards and guitars, will appeal to most fans of the neo side of progressive music.

The packaging of the CD is well presented too, with a good booklet with lyrics in Spanish and English, and nice artwork too, and as you can see it is a great cover. The Jester influence used by many a band.

All the tracks move along very smoothly, but the title cut for me is the strongest one on here. You can pick out many pieces of ideas, and I feel the next album will be of similar quality, if the band can keep their identity they should be a name on everyone's lips, and a few live performances should establish them on the circuit.

A pleasant effort, and worth adding to anyone's collection. For further information, check out the link below.

Danny Mayo

Proglands (Canada)

When looking at the front cover of the first release by DR. NO, one might think MARILLION (because of the jester). However, after listening to this wonderful cd, the leader of the second generation of Progressive bands disappeared from my mind. This is true progressive music where each musical instrument comes out clear and is played highly professionally. Sure, there are a few bands that might come to mind (no one can escape it). However, DR. NO is not a replica!!! Powerful guitars, classical symphonic keyboards, a highly talented rhythm section and an enchanting Spanish voice make this album a must in every Progressive music fan's collection. Just one small detail for the next release: a bit more Mellotron please. Jerry L.

Progressive Rock & Progressive Metal (Brazil)

Hitting the target, how so? At first, on visiting the Dr. No Website without even knowing anything of their sonority I thought to myself that band performed any sort of Neo prog music such as "Marillion", from the so-called "Fish" era overall, and I came straight to such conclusion on casting an eye over a band member’s photo, of which had his face painted such as "Fish" used to do upon "Marillion" live performences’, but now right after listening to the music by Dr. No, I could then see that I had just hit the mark by supposing the band sonority verged in fact to a Neo Prog trend, not following specifically the Marillion’s direction, even though the band members are creative musicians, and they try not, obviously to keep the band personality aside. Anyway the most important thing to say here now is, the final result is quite a spledid Neo Prog album of the very same karat as too many others ever released, not only by Marillion of course, but also by "Pendragon", "Eris Pluvia", "Tempus Fugit", "Clepsydra" between others around the world. ‘’El Bufó De La Cort’’ is then the very debut album by Dr. No, an album issued in 2003 under the band members’ expense at first, being remastered and re-released later by the dutch label Xymphonia Records, the then album features nine first-rank tracks, really able to top every fussy listener’s expectation, seen that the music proposed by this great spanish band is elaborated with a very special care by musicians, who didn’t hesitate in throwing their soul into such a noteworthy project, whose music is entirely able to captivate the listener straight upon the first listening due to its constant beauty often followed by grandiosity where guitars and keyboards harmoniously walk hand in hand across a sounding stroll, really culminating in memorably instrumental passages.The music by Dr. No is really that kind of music, when listened early in the morning straight before going to work, that very day will surely become a blissful one, which everything will succeed positively to your life, seen that this band seem to have created a music from the heart, evoking honesty and a lot of sentiment on what they were really set for doing. Also, I would like to tell about another interesting point upon the music by Dr. No, the language employed on the songs by the band is the catalan, which is the spanish dialect spoken in Cataluña, a language that really sounds different from the traditional spanish, but very, very much beautiful, and also exotic anyway. On the whole, the nine tracks that feature the album are all at the very same balance, really being unecessary of me to quote any highlight on it, and although I still remember mentioning that this album is a genuine Neo Prog one, I must further say this one will also be certainly appreciated by the fans of "Camel", seeing that some of the guitarworks evoke much of Andy Latime’s feeling. One more info upon the tracks before penning off, from the nine tracks that feature the album, two of them, the last two tracks specifically are live recordings taken from a concert performed by the band in January 30th, 2004 at La Rulot Hall - Barcelona. This album is for that kind of listener, that appreciates overall, a very special music, that warm the people’s heart ever. The members and contributors of Dr.No in this album are: Enric Pascual - Vocals, Drums and Keybaords, Conrad Dubé - Bass, Backing Vocals and Keyboards, Pere Mestres - Guitar, Dani Anguera - Some Guitars and Jaume Moncusí - Sound Engeneer. This album is an essential item at every prog fan’s collection. Highly recommendable.... (Comments By Sergio Motta)

SymfoCity (Nederland)

This is the debut album of a the Spanish duo Enric Pascual (vocals, keyboards, drums and percussion) and Conrad Dubé (bass, keyboards and vocals), that together with some guestmusicians gives you almost one hour of nice and pleasant symphonic rock pieces. Atmospheric keyboards are in most responsible for the sound of Dr No, while some fine guitar solos of course do not lack. All pieces are ver melodic and sung in Catalonian, a Spanish dialict, with gives the music of Dr No a special timbre. Apart from this on the whole this album evokes the spirit of Camel to a greater extent.
This album is also known as "The jester of the court".

"El Bufó de la Cort" was selected as one of the TOP 15 of the year 2003 by the audience of  Symfocity.