Comus

This is a truly epic and sad tale of a bastard, Job Senior. Starting generally with a narration of story followed by a song expanding the tale, a myriad of musicians and vocalists contribute to the album. Birth sets the scene for a poor bastard however it starts off quite promising for young Joeb. Before I start fully reviewing it, some things have to be said about the album, the sound quality is quite poor for 1975 since the only surfaced rip is from an early Vinyl pressing. Also this album can only be enjoyed truly as a single package, to which you must devote your full attention to the music and lyrics, it's a very lyrically heavy album considering the strong concept of this hermit's life.

Starting quite upbeat, Birth sets the scene for a promising new life, the instruments complement the song well. During the narration there is a nice instrumental passages running in the background. Journey's narration tells of a lonely childhood, and an eventuall descent into the bottle, the song continues the quite upbeat theme as the vocalist sets off on his journey with hope for fortune, honour and fame. The vocals at times can be grating if you're not wanting to commit to the album and the theme may seem corny, so this is definitely not something for a casual listener, which unfortunately may have to count against it. However the instrumentals are enough to keep the background music listeners. And the whole concept theme would of course be very popular with proggers.

Journey gives an interesting insight into Joebs descent to alcoholism featuring a long fiddle passage from Geoff Bowen, after the passage the vocals seem disheartened as Job has realised what he has become. This is incredibly powerful in how it's done, some male/female "harmonies" that bring a very intense ending to the song, I find this to be the first truly strong point of the album. The narration aspects are a truly great bit of the album, it provides a great base onto which the songs can be performed and have a truly great impact. Stone on Stone is a new life for Job, who lists his jobs and then eventually as a dry stone waller. Stone on Stone beams of pride and the performance is truly great, however it is instrumentally a weak point in the albym, providing not atmosphere for the vocals.

A Long Winter has Job becoming an old man of 60, sick and losing his strength, he marries an 80 year old widow, this is an incredibly touching bit of the album as it chronicles the final years of his wife, and the love that they share. This is what firstly sets this album above all other folk albums of the era, obscure or not, the atmospheric potential of the acoustic instruments is finally realised, as is the vocal talent. This album is hard to listen to all the way through for the unusual reason that you might have to get tissues to help your crying. The tale is told in a truly passionate and real way and that has to be the biggest upside.

As a whole the album has very few drawbacks for someone expecting a good folk album that they won't have heard. However, on a lyrical/story point of the album it is practically flawless. Who Knows tells of Job's final descent into a true hermit, with his estate possessions illegaly taken off him after his wife's death. This continues the sad and emotional themes of the latter parts of the album.

As far as the concept of the album is concerned it is more a choice selection of the most important parts of Job's life, yet these highlights still manage to paint an incredibly good picture of the subject. The final true chapter of the story is I'll Sing For My Supper, this provides a final closure on Job's last years as an entertainer, who can sing in perfect pitch in four voices. I'll Sing provides a lovely upbeat final ending song to the story before the final narration the Outcast.

The final three songs provide closure for the rest of the album, an a sombre lush ending.

The Hermit is a true forgotten gem, however that is a bit of an understatement, Mountain Ash Band never got much reckognition for the album at all and it's a small miracle that the album surived so many years before finally emerging on the internet. The album has some drawbacks relating to accessibility and it can be very hard to get into for the casual listener. Overall there is no true spectacular instrumental passages, nothing will make you go "wow" here, however each instrument contributes effectively to the song and some incredible passages and atmospheres can be found throughout the album. It is by all rights the telling of a story and the score should reflect that.

The story is powerful and the vocals play their part well. This has been an incredibly hard album to review because of the manner of how it plays out and how the combined effort is just so much more important than the single bits. For an imperfect album it does a lot, and for that reason it deserves a strong 8/10.

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