I think this is a great LP, and, in addition to some of the more commercial feeling songs creeping in on the back of Follow You..., it has some great prog moments.
This album has always held a special place for me since I brought the vinyl on release, and I really do not think there is a weak song on it.
The opening Behind the Lines, Duchess, and Guide Vocal were performed stunningly on the last reunion tour, and they are a tour de force of a band creating a huge wall of sound and progressive moments behind a more accessible veneer.
Man of Our Times thunders along, with Collins, I think, sounding particularly sinister in a song clearly aimed at politicians and their art. Banks & Rutherford again create a huge soundscape.
Misunderstanding is hated by many, I know. No, it's not prog, yes, it's pop, but at this stage, songs such as this did not detract from the excellence of all else, unlike in some of the following albums.
Heathaze is a pleasant Banks inspired song with gentle and emotional keyboards providing the backdrop.
I still think Turn it on Again is a fantastic single, this studio version being far superior to the live versions in later years which I came to loathe. The original version contains some thunderous keyboards, huge drum sound, and simple, but effective guitar work. A brilliant single which again introduced many people to their earlier, pure prog, works.
Alone Tonight is a great melancholic song, to be played after about 8 pints when you've been dumped or some such other tragedy. Again, the difference here between the individual band members solo efforts and the band efforts is the huge sound they create and the sense of emotion and musical feeling.
Cul de Sac features some excellent Banks work and is comparable, I think, to One for the Vine in its feel and subject matter.
Please Don't Ask was originally to be a Collins solo track on Face Value - thankfully, the other two liked it and created, again, a sympathetic and huge sounding texture to a very personal account of a breakup.
Dukes Travels & Dukes End are simply symphonic prog at their best - a huge sound driven largely by Banks, with the return of the guide vocal seeing Collins almost driving away whatever demons were pursuing him at the time. The final part crashes into a massive keyboard, drum, and guitar noise which is pure prog - not pop by any stretch of the imagination.
This is a far better album than many of the previous reviews suggest. It is not at all comparable to any of the Gabriel LPs, but it does represent a band who started an alternate journey with Trick of the Tail and have matured into a confident and musically tight outfit producing great work. Very highly recommended for all those who can listen to an LP without imagining its rubbish simply because it’s a Collins LP.
Absolutely one for the people (like me) who simply must have every Yes album and associated solo works, but only, I'm afraid, for that reason.
Previous reviewers of the album have, probably rightly, asked us to listen to this without prejudice. Well, I'm sorry, and I have tried and tried, but I find it impossible. Yes can, and have, survived without Wakeman, but without Anderson? No, absolutely not. To me, he is the heart and soul of the band, and it is simply nowhere near the same without him - it would have been better had they called themselves by a different name. I will also never forget the abuse that was heaped upon Horn (the one with the big glasses from Buggles) when I saw the band live on the resultant tour.
Machine Messiah is a very good piece of music, but the rest simply fades into very average, Floydian passages for me, and not even the great musicianship of Howe, White, Squire, and Downes can save it. It is, to me, altogether far too dark and cynical to succeed as a Yes album. I love Pink Floyd but leave the Floydian cynicism to the masters - I listen to Yes precisely because of Anderson's cheery, hippy, afterlife view of the world.
For me, it is only for completionists and is not even particularly important to the history and understanding of the band, given that it was a one album line-up only. In stating this, I am fully aware that I am in somewhat of a minority.
This is a stunning LP. I still remember the thrill of buying it when released as a spotty 16-year-old, and the feeling hasn't really left me.
Intruder is a strong opening with menacing electronic drum work from Phil Collins that influenced a whole new generation of rock drummers.
No Self Control was a great single, and the first Kate Bush & PG collaboration. The live version was, for me, a little too slow, but fascinating with the menacing towers threatening Gabriel on stage. The original studio version, though, is far better with a rich cacophony of sound.
Start is a nice keyboard solo which leads onto I Don't Remember, a rocking pop song which should be played after each & every drunken bender!
Family Snapshot, for me, is one of the finest songs ever written, by Gabriel or anyone else. A mournful ballad about an assassin, it does have a twist when the plaintive vocals at the end revert to a deeply sad child mourning the loss of his parents’ marriage. My parents divorced at about this time, and the song still has a deep resonance. It is backed by very strong woodwind and guitar samples.
And Through the Wire could be compared to a Northern Ireland scenario, or Gaza in modern times, and is the most rock orientated track on the LP with fine guitar backing, but also a lovely synth sample backing Gabriel in the middle section.
Games without Frontiers needs no deep analysis - it was the single which, I think, brought Gabriel to the attention of a new audience previously sceptical about his prog roots. The video was fun, and it is simply a class pop single. For those of you unfamiliar with Kate Bushs' referral to Jeux Sans Frontiers, look it up on YouTube (under It's a Knockout in English).
Not One of Us is probably the weakest track on the LP, but it is still a fine rock track that has you tapping your toes in appreciation.
Lead a Normal Life is the only experimental track, and Gabriel evokes images of a political institution under a dictatorship with soulful vocals and plaintive synth and percussion backing.
And so.. to Biko. Quite simply the finest political song ever recorded and the reason why Gabriel was top of the UK National Union of Students polls for many years afterwards. This track starts stunningly with the actual recording of tribesmen at Biko's funeral - it also ends the track before a crashing drum rattle. The chorus has had me shouting myself horse every time I have seen him do it live, the drums by Collins are again incredible. This track really has it all, including a very simple, but effective, guitar chord by David Rhodes.
This is an essential purchase for all prog music fans - no hesitation in giving it top marks. A work of genius from the genius!
Ah, the 1980's, the death knell of classic prog bands, yes? Well, no, it wasn't. This is the first release of that decade from Tull, although it was originally envisioned as a solo project by Anderson. Presumably, the record company persuaded him to change his mind in the name of artistic integrity; you know, the type that has the tills ringing.
I regard this as being a transitional album. It strikes me as being halfway between the exceptional folk prog phase that started with Songs From The Wood, and the harder rock phase that the band would realise with future releases.
It is by no means classic Tull. Only an avid obsessive would describe it thus, but there is still plenty of good fare to enjoy here.
Guest keyboardist and violinist, Eddie Jobson, fresh from the ashes of UK, adds some incredible textures to this slickly produced album, and it is a shame to these ears he didn't stick around longer. Dave Pegg also shines on bass, and the old Fairport stager sounds like he is having a thoroughly good time.
As with most Tull albums, it is the more folky, traditional songs that move me more. Highlight of these is Flyingdale Flyer, easily a top ten Tull track of all time for me, telling a wonderful story of the golden age of steam, and featuring some wonderful interplay between Anderson and Jobson especially.
An idea of the new direction Anderson would take the band in can be heard on the following track, Working John, Working Joe. A deliberate attempt to inject more punch into the band, edgier both lyrically and musically, it is actually very good.
Black Sunday stands out from the start bleeding, shock horror, synths as a lead. Synths as lead on a Tull album? Wash thy mouth out! As the track develops, it turns into a solid rock track, very slickly produced, and very good. It is, perhaps, the best example on the album of where Anderson was headed, and even now, 31 years later, I find it difficult to come to terms with when I remember gems such as Songs, Heavy Horses, Broadsword & etc. Such thoughts, though, need to be expunged, and to appreciate the album and tracks such as this, a clear and unbiased mind is required. Once that is achieved, the toes and head are tapping along and you appreciate just how good it is.
Elsewhere, what we have is solid enough stuff. The Pine Marten's Jig is a fun instrumental showing a group of musicians at the top of their game. Jobson's violin is especially good on this, interplaying with Anderson's flute. 4 W.D. (Low Ratio) is a good example of Anderson's continuing whimsical lyrical style, a track that basically takes a huge chunk of fun at the expense of the times blokey car obsession. It is a good, heavy, track.
Good, but nowhere near deserving the description of excellent.
At about the time this album was released, my other favourite heavy /classic rock band, Rainbow, released the LP Down To Earth following the departure of Ronnie James Dio. The title was a deliberate attempt by Blackmore to signify to the world that sci fi & fantasy was now no longer needed, or, indeed, wanted. Songs, in future, would be rooted in the real world most mortals inhabited.
Well, Permanent Waves is Rush's Down To Earth. This is the album where they ceased to amaze us with fantastical tales and myths, and, instead, got on with the serious business of moaning about the crap playlists on mainstream radio and other such important daily considerations. Consider the epic Natural Science, which closes proceedings. Just short of ten minutes long, it is a wonderfully tight, chirpy track which deals with the microscopic world and its science. Real life and real themes, all set within a wonderfully epic backdrop which easily holds together far better than the epic on Hemispheres, and yet is only half the length.
A lot of people hated them for it. There are no tracks here more than ten minutes long, but what they did was to pack as much action and adventure into the shorter songs than they did on much of what went before. The album even garnered a (shock, horror) hit single in Spirit Of Radio, still played on FM stations the world over and a classic Rush track.
They did still, of course, stay true to their roots, and nowhere is this better exemplified by the cracking Jacob's Ladder, a track which would not have felt out of place on A Farewell To Kings. There is, though, a heavier reliance on Geddy Lee's synths, but the heavy riffs are pounding, and the live version on Exit Stage Left is, if anything, even more effective. They did, however, literally lyrically strip away the mystique and fantasy dragons on Different Strings, a lovely acoustic track featuring some marvellous piano work by Hugh Syme.
With this stripped-down album, we can, in hindsight, see the bridge between old Rush, and the sound that was perfected on Moving Pictures, and taken in a more "modern" direction with Signals and later albums.
This was down as much to commercial pressures as much as Peart's wish to move outside of the band's mythical comfort zone. At the time, punk had done its work, and bands such as Motorhead, Saxon, and Whitesnake (to name a few) were belting out classic rock tracks which sold truckloads and captured the imagination of the buying and listening public. They did it with songs which lasted less than five minutes long.
What Rush started to do with this album was to lay down the foundations of modern heavy prog with commercial nous. That they did so without selling out or losing their fanatically loyal fanbase was a testament to this great band's determination to face a new era positively, without fear, and retaining their credibility as serious artists.
Oldfield entered the 1980's with this album which, on most fronts, delivers very nicely.
There is a stellar cast list of guests, and, I think, special mention needs to be given to Phil Collins' exceptional drum/percussion work on Taurus I & Sheba, and, also, the presence of the (then) Genesis collaborator David Henschel on keyboards and production work. He also co-wrote the title track, which is the second longest track on the album at seven & a half minutes, something which clearly pointed to Oldfield's wish to break a lot of his music down into shorter and more accessible (for the new mass market) chunks at this period in his career.
This is an album which is more reliant on keyboards than much of what went before, and the result, mixed with Oldfield's signature guitar work, upbeat rhythms, and Maggie Reilly's marvellous voice, is an upbeat album which is very easy to listen to on the ears, but, also, is well written and doesn't lose sight of Oldfield's clear progressive roots. The introduction to the title track, with its Oldfield guitar fusing with Henschel's keyboards and a brass section, is a fine example of the utilisation of new sounds being produced in rock at the time.
My highlight of this, though, is one of the two covers featured on the album (a clear commercial decision by his then label, Virgin). Wonderful Land, an old Shadows track, is given the full Oldfield treatment, and the guitar work on this is never anything less than stunning. It is basically a hymn to the glories and beauty of Old England, and you can visualise the wonders of that green and pleasant land when you listen to this.
The other cover is Abba's Arrival, and, again, this is wonderfully executed with some particularly delicate guitar work by the great man and effective Reilly chants.
Oldfield also proves he can still rock out, and the glorious Mirage is vintage Oldfield. Relentlessly upbeat, heavy, but also with some interesting brass instrumentation in amongst the chaos.
An album of contrasts. At turns commercial, Celtic folk, new age, harder rock, and more traditional Oldfield, this is a hugely enjoyable musical journey.
It is not a masterpiece of an album by any means. But it does feature some of the finest work that Oldfield produced, and that is saying a lot in such a stellar career.
An excellent addition to any prog music collection.
The finest Black Sabbath album ever made. Yes, even with the history behind gems such as Paranoid, Masters of Reality, and Vol. IV, this is the one that I return to more often than any other.
Ozzy had run into the arms of the Arden clan, and eventual worldwide celebrity status, and was replaced by Ronnie James Dio, who had fallen out with Ritchie Blackmore. Dio brought his unique brand of sword & sorcery lyrics, added them to a bit of the "dark side", and, hey presto, we have a classic rock album on our hands. What this album did was rescue Sabbath from the pages of history, certainly after the cocaine fuelled nonsense which had preceded this album and gave them new impetus. Sadly, it wasn't to last very long.
In all their illustrious career, I don't think that they came up with better tracks than Neon Knights, a rip-roaring opener, Children Of The Sea, with its distinctly proggy acoustic opening & mid sections, and the title track itself, an anthem to heavy rock, and indispensable for any fan of the genre.
However, it is Die Young that is, to me, the crowning achievement of this album and, indeed, the band. Featuring some magnificent keyboards by Geoff Nicholls guesting, it is probably deliberately intended to parody Ozzy's madcap lifestyle at the time. The vocals by Dio are incredible, but it is Iommi who really steals the show with a roaring performance on guitar. I just love the opening dreamy solo, before he and the band go crashing into the main section. Just about the finest hard rock track ever made.
The four tracks I have raised above are most definitely the template for a whole host of what we now call prog metal. In those days, we just called it heavy rock, of course.
The other four tracks are great slabs of said heavy rock but do suffer a little bit in comparison with the four absolute masterpieces here. I especially enjoy Lonely Is The Word, which features a delicate performance by Dio.
Nevertheless, this is an incredible album, and is, by any standards, an excellent addition to any rock collection.
The Turn of a Friendly Card, a loose sort of concept about gambling, was released in 1980, sold well in America, and just about dented the top 40 chart in the UK. It was the follow up to Eve, an album not, it is fair to say, universally critically appreciated.
This is, really, an album of two sides, one appreciably better than the other.
The first side is basically a collection of well crafted, well performed, and well sung pop rock songs, of which the easy highlight is Time, with lovely vocals by the wonderful Eric Woolfson, which bears a passing resemblance to Floyd instrumentally, although only passing. Of the remainder, veteran Lenny Zakatek sings on two pleasant enough tracks, one of which, Games People Play, was a hit single, whilst Dave Terry, formerly of Elmer Gantry and the subject of a minor legal scandal when trying to tour as a bootleg Fleetwood Mac, pops up on the pleasant opener May Be A Price To Pay. Basically, pleasant enough pop rock, without being remotely essential.
This changes somewhat with side two. Opener, The Gold Bug is a clever instrumental, with very nice jazzy sax supporting.
The main tour de force, however, is the title track, presented here as an epic track lasting over sixteen minutes, but is, in reality, five distinct pieces of music welded (lovingly) into a single opus. It works on every level. The third movement, The Ace of Swords, is a magnificent synth led instrumental that fairly races along, whilst avoiding the disco led beats of some of the first side work. The suite also greatly benefits from the services of the two finest APP vocalists, Woolfson on the achingly beautiful Nothing Left To Lose, and, for the remainder, the wonderful Chris Rainbow, whose voice I fell in love with when I first heard APP all those years ago. This suite has all that was great about this project; wonderfully lush orchestration, thoughtful and intelligent lyrics, sung with genuine passion and feeling, and some wonderful rock passages, perhaps best seen here with Ian Bairnson's passionate guitar burst at the close of the fourth movement. The real highlight, though, are those vocals. They are to die for.
This is a difficult album to rate. It was, by no means, the worst that APP released, but neither was it the finest. It is a very worthy addition to the canon, and worth exploring if you enjoy melodic prog from one of the finest exponents of such music.