Trollheart

Almost nine months later....


Chapter IV: Waiting to Exhale:
A Breath of Fresh Air

One year into the new decade and it wasn’t quite an all-out assault or a revolution in the world of rock music. While some interesting albums would be released in 1971, it’s probably fair to say that many of them would go unremarked and indeed quite gently into that dark night, never to be heard from again. There are exceptions of course and we’ll get to those, but even compared to the previous year the amount of new bands getting together this year is far far smaller. There are two major ones - one of which I fail to see how they had anything at all to do with progressive rock - and one band quietly disbanding, about whom I imagine those who cared could be counted on the fingers of one hand, but no major events really. Many of the bands who had been formed in 1970 did release their debut album this year, and bands already established would release albums too, some good, some bad.

In general, I would have to say it feels as if, to quote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, the world was waiting, or as one of our football commentators once put it, a nation held its breath. 1971, for me, and for progressive rock, seems more like a sort of year of marking time, a holding pattern, the calm, if you like, before the storm. 1972 would see some classic albums hit the shelves and some reputations made, and prog rock would begin to take its stranglehold, not on the charts (never that) but on the record-buying public, or to be more precise, the album-buying public. As noted earlier, progressive rock can almost be credited solely with the rise of the album as opposed to the single, and over the early to mid 1970s the sale of albums went through the roof. But for now, those who wanted the albums bought them but bands such as Genesis, Yes, The Moody Blues and others were yet too fresh and new to have legions of fans as they do now, and it was, in general, only the fans who bought the albums.

Perhaps it’s appropriate that music was a little less out front in 1971; the world could very well have been said to have been holding its breath. The Vietnam War dragged on, showing no signs of ending, and offering no hope of victory, while Richard Nixon’s presidency hurtled towards its ignominious termination, the Watergate scandal due to break the following year. After the initial enthusiasm surrounding Apollo 11 and the fear and relief attending the abortive Apollo 13 missions, people had become bored with NASA’s attempts to continue to send men to the Moon. A real case of “been there, done that” as a growing unease was felt over the colossal sums being spent to visit, not even colonise the Moon, money which could, said an increasing number of discontented voices, be better spent at home. The Manson trials ended in guilty verdicts and death sentences that would never be carried out, giving the world’s most infamous serial killer after Jack the Ripper the last laugh, as he became a dark celebrity, and not happy with having the quagmire in Southeast Asia to deal with, Nixon declared another completely unwinnable war, this one on drugs.

So perhaps the time was right for an escape. Things were dark in 1971, certainly in the USA, which might go some way towards explaining how some of the first American progressive rock bands formed at that time, but the news is worldwide and so the world was watching reports of the daily death tolls Vietnam was exacting on America’s youth, and things looked bleak. In music, we were reminded of the loss of Janis Joplin the previous year, with her final album released as this one began, three months after her passing, ZZ Top exploded (not) onto the scene with their suitably low-key titled album ZZ Top’s First Album while old campaigners like Elvis, Barbara Streisand, Johnny Cash, Andy Williams, Carly Simon and Anne Murray continued to churn out albums. Carole King’s wonderful bittersweet album Tapestry was released, an album which would give major hits to James Taylor and Aretha Franklin, and Elton John would release his first live album while The Doors would see their last in L.A. Woman following the passing of another legend as Jim Morrison died as he had lived.

An insignificant band from Ireland put out their insignificant debut album this year, though the world would soon learn the name Thin Lizzy, and another son of Erin who would go on to become a byword for Ireland’s musical talent also made his first tentative steps into the world, as the debut self-titled album from Rory Gallagher hit the shops to exactly no fanfare. Heavy rock was coming of age, and bands like Blue Cheer and MC5. who had led the initial charge, would now step aside in favour of the new guard, championed by Budgie, Deep Purple and of course Led Zeppelin.

Like every year, 1971 had its share of famous deaths, but somehow the death of Jim Morrison, so young and coming so hard on the heels of the passing of another American icon in Janis Joplin must have made it doubly hard to take among the music community, especially in America. The passing of legendary war hero and actor Audie Murphy might have underlined that the days of World War II were long gone, with America embroiled in a war that had no room for honour or mercy, and was fought on completely different principles even to that conducted in the Pacific theatre. The death of two Disney legends, though probably unremarked at the time - Walt’s brother Roy and Mickey Mouse main creator Ub Iwerks - could have been seen as a message to the USA that the fun was over, and that from here on in they could expect only heartache and sorrow.

But waiting in the wings were a whole host of bands, some of whom would survive, some of whom would thrive, a few of whom would go on to dominate the seventies, who were willing to try to draw people’s attention away from the day-to-day nastiness of the world, and back to a simpler time, or even a made-up, fantasy time, maybe even other worlds, in an attempt to put the harsh reality of the early years of the decade if not behind them, then at least in a corner where they could, for the duration of an album, be forgotten about. Most of these bands had already made tentative overtures towards the public, and in some cases had been well received, in others ignored, but if the latter that was not going to stop them. The progressive rock movement was about to gather momentum, and in a few years it would power forward, steamrollering over the music scene and giving emerging trends like disco and even hard rock a run for their money.

Lungs were filled, and ready to exhale, blowing a fresh, if imaginary, wind across the troubled landscape of a world desperately searching for an escape, for respite, for rescue, even if only temporary.

The long-haired and in many cases bearded riders of the new dawn were saddled up and ready to go.

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As mentioned in the intro, there were far fewer prog bands formed in 1971 than in the previous year. Here is the short list.

Camel (i) 1971 - 1984 (ii) 1991 -

Nationality: English
Original lineup: Andrew Lattimer, Peter Bardens, Andy Ward, Doug Ferguson
First relevant album: Camel, 1973

Impact: 8
The Trollheart Factor: 2
Linked to:
Called “the great unsung heroes of Progressive Rock”, there can be few who follow the scene who have not at least heard of them. A band I always mix up with Caravan, it would take another two years before they would release their debut album, but apart from a breakup or hiatus of ten years at the midsection of the 1980s, they’re still going today. Part of the Canterbury Scene, and indeed one of the premier bands in that movement, Camel are famous for albums such as The Snow Goose and have to date fourteen albums under their belt, one of the few surviving bands of the seventies prog rock scene.

Druid (1971 – 1977)

Nationality: English
Original lineup: Cedric Sharpley, Neil Brewer, Dane Stevens, Andrew McCrorie-Shand (note: though this last member was not present in 1971, he did join the band before they put out their debut album, so technically I imagine that makes him part of the original lineup)
First relevant album: Towards the Sun, 1975

Impact: 0
The Trollheart Factor: 0
Linked to:
Never heard of these guys before, and they didn’t last long, with only two albums to their name. The only small claim to fame I can find from them is outside of the prog rock world, where founder Cedric Sharpley played in Gary Numan’s Tubeway Army. He passed away in 2012.

Manfred Mann’s Earth Band (i)1971 – 1987 (ii) 1991 -

Nationality: English
Original lineup: Manfred Mann, Mick Rogers, Chris Slade, Colin Pattenden
First relevant album: Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, 1972

Impact: 8
The Trollheart Factor: 4
Linked to:
South African musician Manfred Mann had already had hits under his own name in the sixties before he put together the Earth Band in 1971. With elements of funk, jazz fusion and rock, the Earth Band is perhaps unique in being famous for covering Bruce Springsteen songs for its three major hits: “For You”, “Spirit in the Night” and the hugely successful “Blinded By the Light”.



[U[Matching Mole (1971 – 1973 )[/U]

Nationality: English
Original lineup: Robert Wyatt, Bill McCormick, Phil Miller, Dave Sinclair,
First relevant album: Matching Mole's Little Red Record, 1972

Impact: ?
The Trollheart Factor: 0
Linked to: Sky, Soft Machine, Hatfield and the North, 801, Curved Air
Formed by Robert Wyatt after he left Soft Machine, they were another short-term band who only lasted till really 1972, as Wyatt was paralysed the following year and a third album which had been planned for 1973 had to be cancelled. Robert Fripp was involved in their second and last album, and Sinclair and Miller went on to form Hatfield and the North after Matching Mole broke up.


Time (1971 – 1977)

Nationality: Yugoslavian
Original lineup: Dado Topić, Tihomir "Pop" Asanović, Vedran Božić, Mario Mavrin, Ratko Divjak, Brane Lambert Živković
First relevant album: Time, 1972

Impact: 0
The Trollheart Factor: 0
Linked to:
How weird is it that with prog rock being such an almost exclusively English phenomenon, we come across a band from Yugoslavia in 1971? I know nothing about them, nor do you. Shrug.

Important note: I mentioned in the introductory passage that there were two important bands formed this year, one of which I believed had nothing to do with progressive rock. They were Queen, and even my objections notwithstanding, it seems Wiki has fucked it up again, as Queen were formed in 1970. I’ll be damned if I’m going back to add them to the list for that year, and anyway, as I say, what in the name of blue jumping fuck does Wiki think Queen had to do with prog rock? Sure. “Bohemian Rhapsody” might squeeze in as a prog track, but the rest? No way. Queen are not, never were and never will be progressive rock, so I’m ignoring them entirely.

The other band I mentioned are very much progressive rock, but again Wiki has got it wrong, as its own page on the band mentions that, though they had been together since the 1960s, Styx only took that name in 1972. So they’re not formed this year, despite what its other page says, contradicting it.

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As this project goes on I've come to the somewhat uncomfortable realisation that it’s going to require a rethink as to how I approach this, unless I want to be still writing this on my deathbed, assuming I live to a reasonably ripe old age. In 1971 alone there look to be in the region of sixty albums released according to Wiki. If that holds true for each subsequent year - and it could very well be more - then in the 1970s alone we’re looking at around 600 albums. Multiply that by five decades and that gives you what, over three thousand albums to be reviewed? Even if I wasn’t doing other work and spent all my time on this I could maybe hope to get this done inside three or four years, but even that’s pushing it a little. And that would not be taking into account the other journals I’m doing, and more to come.

So basically, I’m changing the format. What I intend to do now is pick a certain number of albums per year - say maybe 20,25 - including of course the most important and influential ones, ones by artists that were important to the movement, and review them. The others I will write about but not review. I’ll give details of the album and where, if at all it fit into the prog rock scene and the year/decade, but I won’t be talking about the actual music on it, unless in the vaguest and most basic terms. I’ll still be doing Over the Garden Wall, since that’s fun and part of the project, and I’ll be writing other features too. But the idea of reviewing every single album - or most of them - from every year, I see now is a pretty impossible task to set myself. Like all of my other journals, the last thing I want is for this to turn from an interest into a chore, something I feel I have to do, but do not enjoy doing.

To this end, I won’t be putting up a list of albums from each year any more. It would be pointless, and kind of has been, as I’m repeating the information on each, so I’ll talk about them as I either review or write about them. I think the important thing with this history is to move it along, and here we are, six years into the project (admittedly with some absence on my part) and we’ve only begun the 1970s. If I use the new method we should get through it somewhat more briskly, and to the years most prog fans are more interested in sooner, the mid-seventies, the comeback eighties and so on, and of course then on to progressive metal. I don’t think any purpose is served by my reviewing albums nobody probably cares about, and which weren’t that important in the overall scheme of prog rock, so I will from now on be cherry-picking, and hopefully featuring only the best.

Yes, this is true that the new system gives me a chance to avoid albums I don’t like the look of, but to be fair I won't’ be ignoring anything, just not reviewing the ones I don’t pick. Hell, it’s my journal and I’m doing the work so I think it’s fair enough that I should be able to do it as I see fit. If there’s an album I don’t review and you think I should, or would like me to, let me know and I’ll see what I can do. I’ll also be changing the format of each album, merging the categories for “Previous experience of this artist” and “The Trollheart factor” into one, which I have realised essentially they are, and removing the “Overall Impression”, as I feel it’s a little superfluous; anything I want to say about an album, having listened to it, I can say in the “comments” section.

I’ll be introducing a new category called “Factsheet”, which will basically give all the pertinent information on the album, whether I review it or not, so that nothing will be ignored, in so far as it’s possible. “Landmark Value” will be removed, as anything I have to say about the album’s importance, or lack of, will be addressed within the factsheet.

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Well, like I said, 1971 may not have been a time for all that many interesting albums (though there are certainly some), but even so, there are about sixty released this year. Incidentally, I came to the decision about not reviewing all the albums a little while into, well, beginning to review all the albums, so I'll be damned if I'll let all that work go to waste. So the ones I did review, whether they were intended to be the ones I'd concentrate or not, I'll feature here anyway.

I guess we had better get started then. Lots to get through.

Album title: Salisbury
Artist: Uriah Heep
Nationality: English
Label: Vertigo
Chronology: Second
Grade: B
Tracklisting: Bird of Prey/ The Park/ Time to Live/ Lady in Black/ High Priestess/ Salisbury
Comments: For those of you from over that side of the ocean, the title is pronounced “sols-burry”, like the Peter Gabriel song. Just thought you’d like to know. Kicks off in high hard rock vein with punchy guitars and drums but a sort of operatic vocal from David Byron, a cool guitar motif from Mick Box on “Bird of Prey”, turns into something of a guitar boogie near the end with not quite but nearly doo-wop style vocals. A good start and it leads into “The Park”, slowing everything down and riding on Ken Hensley’s organ and Mellotron with some nice vibraphone. A very high-pitched vocal I would have taken for female if I had not known better, kind of a prayer in the idea of the lyric. Nice and relaxing after the bombast of the opener, gives me a feel of early Eagles or Dan Fogelberg. Excellent organ solo near the end and then music drops out completely and it ends on an acapella vocal, music sighing in just right in the last few seconds.

“Time to Live” stomps all over the place with an almost “Iron Man" feel, heavy grinding guitar, snarling organ and thunderous drums, talk box I think on the guitar, or some sort of effect anyway. One of only two stints on the vocals from Ken Hensley then on “Lady in Black”, which has some good kind of folk-rock energy about it, almost a more punchy Jethro Tull in some ways. The guitar holds back here and the organ is almost non-existent, with acoustic guitar mostly taking the tune. Definitely my favourite so far by a country mile. The simple chorus works really well. He stays mikeside for the next one, “High Priestess” which has a lovely sliding guitar reminiscent of later ELO work, especially on A New World Record and Out of the Blue.

Box winds up the guitar again, having been kept in check for the last song, and there’s a sense of Lizzy in his riffs here, the song more a sort of out-and-out rock style, making me wonder why this album is considered prog, as so far there has been little in it to show me that sort of direction in the music. But then there is that epic closer, so we’ll see. Props to Mick Box on the frets here, he really does the band proud. And that takes us to the closer which as I said runs for sixteen minutes and change.

It is of course also the title track, and it opens on a powerful cinematic introduction quite reminiscent really of those old western movies, certainly with a Spanish tilt to it. It runs for nearly three minutes before the vocal comes in, Byron stepping back behind the microphone, his voice at first tentative and almost nervous-sounding, but then it gains strength and power on the back of the rising keyboard line from Hensley and stop-start percussion. It’s certainly a mostly keyboard-driven piece, though Box hammers along with the guitar in fine style too. I guess this is what gives the album its prog rock credentials, but it does seem a little out of place. Quite the jam really, and I have no idea what it’s about, if it’s about anything. A touch of the technical wankery, perhaps? I mean, it’s an enjoyable piece, I just can’t quite follow it. Is that flute? I think that’s flute. Ah come on now! They just ripped off the ending of “Child in Time” by Deep Purple! Not cool, guys. Not cool. And only a year later, too.

Favourite track(s): The Park, Lady in Black
Least favourite track(s):
Overall impression: I think it’s almost a mistake to consider this a prog album. It’s a good rock album, but the title track at the end with its sixteen-minute runtime and signature changes seems almost to be tacked on so as to make it a prog record, when really I would consider it a hard rock album, with maybe prog pretensions. I’m sure Uriah Heep have better records than this. Someone noted this as an album for completists only, and even though it’s only their second album, I think I would agree in principle.
Personal Rating: 3.5
Legacy Rating: 2.0
Final Rating: 2.50

Note: This, and the next fistful of reviews, were, as I say, written before I decided to implement my new system, so "Overall impression" is still here, but after these it will drop out.

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Album title: Mogul Thrash
Artist: Mogul Thrash
Nationality: English
Label: RCA
Chronology: Debut and only
Grade: C
Tracklisting: Something Sad/ Elegy/ Dreams of Glass & Sand/ Going North, Going West/ St. Peter/ What’s This I Hear
Comments: The only album ever recorded by this band, it did feature one of the first, maybe the first, appearance of John Wetton, as well as a member of Colosseum and, um, the Average White Band? The band name was based on a sketch by legendary comedian Spike Milligan, apparently. Blasting guitar opening which actually reminds me of the previous album, the Uriah Heep one, then lots of brass, not surprisingly given there are two of the hornmen from AWB here. Quite jazzy, upbeat and uptempo, nice bass line. Wetton’s voice is a little low in the mix I feel, but clear enough. For a song so titled though it’s curiously uptempo but I have fears it may be too long at seven and a half minutes. Slowing down now on I guess tenor sax then a whining guitar solo. Interestingly, for a band said to be a prog rock one (at least partially; mostly I think they’re more jazz) there are no keyboards here, except where Brian Auger guests on “St. Peter”, and then it’s only piano.

Again, I would have expected a song called “Elegy” to be a ballad, but not a bit of it. More hard guitar and a tight rhythm section as the song barrels along with a sense of psych meets hard rock, edges of Santana maybe, certainly a good workout for the guitar from James Litherland. This one though is two minutes longer than the opener, and that felt stretched as it was. Is it likely this could be an instrumental? At nine minutes? Well it’s halfway through now and oh there’s the vocal. Quite soulful really, worth the buildup. I reckon that’s Litherland though, as he’s shown as handling vocals too, and being the founder it’s likely Wetton would have been relegated to either singing on one or two tracks or maybe he just does backing or harmony vocals. This almost certainly is not him though; it’s a much stronger, more confident, powerful voice, the voice of a man who has already been in a band and knows his way around a mike.

Not quite so much brass in this; they really tail it back and allow the guitar to take over the song, but overall I must admit I find it a little boring. The horns are back in force for “Dreams of Glass & Sand”, which is at least a more manageable five minutes, sense of mariachi trumpet in here too, sort of not bad, but I haven’t heard anything to really change my mind as to the impression I had when I listened to this originally some years ago. I must admit I’m not looking forward to the twelve-minute “Going North, Going West”, starts off rocky enough with a sense of Van der Graaf Generator maybe, vocal pretty strident with an interesting idea of psychedelia thrown in, a good workout on the alto (?) sax, then a slow, sultry passage on I guess baritone sax (I’m not at all familiar with the different types of this instrument so I’m guessing and going from the liner notes too) which is quite nice, almost Mancini-esque.

Builds up into a nice instrumental which puts me in mind of seventies Supertramp, particularly the midsection in “Rudy” from Crime of the Century - I suppose Roger and Rick could have heard this album and it might have influenced them when writing that song. Or maybe it’s just coincidence. Guitar taking over now, and I’m sorry but I’m never going to get away from comparing it to Carlos Santana; it just sounds so much like him, which I guess Litherland should take as a compliment. You know, I just notice now that there’s a pyramid on the cover and Asia’s logo features one. I wonder if Wetton… yeah, I’m that interested in the music that my attention is wandering in those directions. It’s a thought though.

There’s that piano now on “St. Peter”. It does change the focus of the music somewhat, though the horns can’t wait to push their way in can they. That sounds like Wetton now on the vocals. It’s the shortest and probably the least annoying track on the album so far, but now we’re back to a seven-minute one with the closer, “What’s This I Hear”, which seems to come in very slowly and quietly on alto(?) sax then a full brass chorus. This is very harsh with a kind of Gary Moore blues vibe and I think it might be the one I like least, which is saying something. Oh wait there’s a lovely laid back smoky sax part here which might go some way towards saving the track. Yeah that’s really nice, I have to say. It’s quickly blasted away by heavy rock guitar though and if I had to compare this to anyone it would be I think Hendrix. Doesn’t really come across to me as any real sort of prog.

Favourite track(s): St. Peter (barely)
Least favourite track(s):
Overall impression: No change from when I originally listened to this. I didn’t like it then and I don't like it now. As a curiosity, it’s interesting to hear John Wetton so young, but other than that, no. Too much brass, too much hard rock, and I can’t really hear anything here that even comes close to what I would describe as progressive rock.
Personal Rating: 2.0
Legacy Rating: 2.0
Final Rating: 2.0

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Album title: Once Again
Artist: Barclay James Harvest
Nationality: English
Label: EMI
Chronology: Second
Grade: B
Tracklisting: She Said/ Happy Old World/ Song for Dying/ Galadriel/ Mocking Bird/ Vanessa Simmons/ Ball and Chain/ Lady Loves
Comments: It’s not hard to see why BJH acquired the rather derogatory nickname as “the poor man’s Moody Blues”. As soon as “She Said” begins I hear Justin and the boys, and maybe it’s unfair, because I feel they are or were a good band, and almost certainly did not copy the Moodies, just happened to come along at the same time as them, with the Moodies getting the more press. Had it happened the other way around, we could have been talking about “the poor man’s Barclay James Harvest”. But we’re not, and they were stuck with that label.

The opener is a really nice blues-style slowburner with a sort of mystical feel to it, the longest by some way on the album at nearly eight and a half minutes, some fine guitar work from John Lees backed by powerful Mellotron and organ from Stuart Wolstenholme. In the middle it stops entirely and then comes back very very slowly and quietly indeed, to the point in fact that, were you listening to it and didn’t know how long the song was you might have switched off at the halfway point. I would say it’s flute you hear very low in the background, but recorder is mentioned so I guess it’s that. It finally punches up on hard guitar around the sixth minute and this climbs into a pretty evocative solo which reminds me, of all things, of Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold the World”, the ending of it anyway. Basically it’s a reprise from here and I would question, as I often do, why this is so long a song?

“Happy Old World” rides very much on the organ, with elements of very early Genesis I feel, with rather a nice if naive message, that life is what you make of it. Oh but maybe not, as there’s a reference to suicide, possibly quite risque for 1971 I would imagine. Maybe it’s an acerbic, sarcastic lyric? Some really nice piano melding with Mellotron to fade it out, kind of liked that one. Next up then is the rather fatalistically-named “Song for Dying”, (sounds like this is the one that should be about suicide, no?) which runs on a soft piano line, then rising guitar and a stronger and more impassioned vocal than we’ve heard from Lees to date. Up to now I feel he’s been sort of singing almost apologetically, low and soft, as if afraid someone will hear him. Nice song, as is “Galadriel”, though I think all this pastoral flower power could be helped by a big snarling guitar or pounding organ; just kick out the stays once in a while guys. It’s a little snooze-inducing.

Well, “Mocking Bird” is another slow one, seems to be based on the nursery rhyme/lullaby, though very nice. Love the orchestra here, very effective and the vocal is very clear without being forceful (these guys? Really? Forceful?) while I also get a sense of Alan Parsons Project here. Yes yes I know, but look who pops up on the final track, hmmm? Coincidence? What are you drivelling about Trollheart? I’ll explain when we get there. I think this is my favourite track so far. Quite excellent. Another soft acoustic track in “Vanessa Williams”. Sorry “Vanessa Simmons.” Vocal is gone back to that shy, hiding sort of thing Lees does on much of this album, though it does poke its head out now and then. Again, a nice song. It’s a short one, and I feel it’s going to be little else than vocal and acoustic guitar. Nothing wrong with that. Maybe a little light percussion.

Ah, finally! Something with a little teeth, some balls to it. And a chain, apparently. Good howling guitar, punch drums, something almost like a really early Matt Johnson in style. The vocal, again, could be stronger, but not bad. A song like this though really needs him to cut loose and just give it some. I heard Don Henley do something like this on his solo album Inside Job. I’ll be honest and say he did a better job, but this at least blows a few of the cobwebs away. But now I’m not sure if it sounds out of place, as if it’s only there because they think there should be a “harder” track. I know: never satisfied, am I? And the closer goes back to the slow love songs, lazy sitting in the garden squinting at the sun sort of thing. Really laconic slide guitar and a certain Alan Parsons (see? I told you it would all become clear) on Jew’s harp of all things. So now I have to ask, did he get the idea for the famous APP music motif from BJH?

Favourite track(s): Happy Old World, Song for Dying, Galadriel, Mocking Bird, Vanessa Simmons, Lady Loves
Least favourite track(s):
Overall impression: A really laid back album, perhaps too laid back, but I would think very pleasant to listen to when you want to relax. Certainly enjoyable, but again can you call it prog rock? Ask me later.
Personal Rating: 4.0
Legacy Rating: 2.0
Final Rating: 3.0

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Album title: The Yes Album
Artist: Yes
Nationality: English
Label: Atlantic
Chronology: Third
Grade: A
Tracklisting: Yours is No Disgrace/ Clap/ Starship Trooper (i) Life Seeker (ii) Disillusion (iii) Würm/ I’ve Seen All Good People (i) Your Move (ii) All Good People/ A Venture/ Perpetual Change
Comments: The album that could have seen the end of the godfathers of prog, this was Yes’s breakthrough at a time when Atlantic were considering dropping them, due to poor sales of their last two albums. More though, the band were involved in a head-on collision while recording and luckily suffered only minor injuries, but how things could have been different. Tony Kaye, scornful of synthesisers and refusing to play one, left the band after this album, with Steve Howe having already replaced previous guitarist Peter Banks. A little-known keyboard player would take Kaye’s seat for the next album, Rick Wakeman completing what would become the classic Yes lineup for more than a decade.

The first Yes album to stand on its own merits, with not a cover version anywhere (or ever again) it opens strongly with “Yours is No Disgrace”, the harder, more expressive guitar of Steve Howe already evident as Kaye pulls off a very Genesisesque (yes I know) keyboard run, the song one of their longest at this point, just over nine and a half minutes, and showcasing the close harmony singing that would become their trademark. This is, I would venture to say, the first time I really hear prog rock leaking out of every pore of a Yes album. It simply could not be mistaken for anything else. And what’s more, of the four albums we’ve reviewed up to now, it is also the only one I would consider proper prog. This was setting down a marker which other bands would follow for years to come. Jon Anderson’s voice is much more confident here too, though it says he worried the songs would not be popular, until he noted fans singing them at concerts, and knew it was all right.

There’s a real sense of power and energy and exuberance about this first track, the sound of a band who believed they really had something and were going somewhere. They certainly were, as the album broke the chart wide open and took them to number four, leading no doubt to a frantic attempt to destroy those letters of dismissal Atlantic executives were having typed up! Back to the album though. Somehow despite the length of this opening track it doesn’t seem to drag, and keeps the attention throughout, between the sweet almost hypnotic vocals of Anderson and the intricate guitar work of Howe. It seems to me that here Yes had all but discovered and laid down the formula for a proper prog epic, allowing it to develop organically rather than trying to force it, and by gum, it works. After that it’s a short acoustic jaunt called “Clap” which is fun but nothing to write home about, I guess the band basically taking a breather after such a workout.

And there’s another to come, as “Starship Trooper” runs for another nine and a half minutes, with flanged guitar tripping along nicely running into a sweet little acoustic piece with some more close harmony singing. Still, I have to admit the old Yes bugbear raises its head, and I’m already losing interest in this song. I don’t know what it is about early Yes, but I just can’t get into it. Must be me I guess. Good extended guitar solo here in the seventh minute which does succeed in dragging my attention back with attendant organ from Kaye. Okay this is pretty good and now we have a soaring solo from Howe. Yeah I think I would have preferred a better ending though; just fades out. Acapella vocal introduces “I’ve Seen All Good People” with some interesting recorder from Colin Goldring and that “dah-dah-dah-dah” sound that would characterise much of Yes’s sound going forward.

Organ coming in now quite strongly as the song gets grander and more majestic, then a funky guitar from Howe takes the tune in a far rockier direction, nice honky-tonk piano from Kaye too. I can see why this became such a standard. You know, maybe I’m not that bored after all. Ah, right. Faded again. That’s a pity. I thought it was going to end more strongly. Damn good song all the same. “A Venture” is - dare I say it - almost Gilbert O’Sullivan or ABBA in its execution; a much shorter piece, shortest I think on the album, no just beaten by a few seconds by “Clap”. Second shortest then. It’s all right but a bit of a comedown after its predecessor. Superb piano solo though, reminds me of Supertramp’s “Child of Vision” off Breakfast in America. The album then ends on one more epic, the almost nine minute “A Perpetual Change”, which opens with driving organ and guitar, very punchy, and the song develops nicely with Anderson in top form as the album that could have been the end of Yes comes to a triumphant conclusion.

Favourite track(s): Pretty much all of it other than Starship Trooper
Least favourite track(s): Starship Trooper duh
Overall impression: I can honestly say that, with the odd exception, this is the first early Yes album I’ve really enjoyed. Whether I would listen to it again on my own I don’t know, but I definitely prefer it to the first two, which to my ears didn’t sound really in the vaguest prog rock at all. This one does, and shows where the band were heading. If nothing else, it shows how proficient this young band had become not only at playing their instruments, but at recording and producing their albums.
Personal Rating: 4.0
Legacy Rating: 5.0
Final Rating: 4.5

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rubber soul

I listed to this album yesterday, actually. Really? You didn't like Starship Trooper? For shame. Anyway, my second favorite prog band next to King Crimson (and I don't think I have a third)

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Trollheart

Album title: Fourth
Artist: Soft Machine
Nationality: English
Label: CBS/Columbia
Chronology: Duh, fourth
Grade: B
Tracklisting: Teeth/ Kings and Queens/ Fletcher’s Blemish/ Virtually Part 1 - 4
Comments: Never a good sign when the genre tags read jazz, free jazz, but Soft machine being one of the big names in the Canterbury Scene we are constrained to give it a listen. This was their first fully instrumental album, and almost immediately we have that jazzy jam that so annoys me, full of rolling drums and howling horns. Some organ in there too, but no guitar anywhere on the album. Damned jazz. I guess one thing I can take with jazz is the piano, and there’s some nice ivory-tinkling here from Mike Rathledge, though mostly it’s very much brass-driven. Not my thing at all. This will already be getting a low Personal Rating score from me.

Christ! This is nine minutes long! At least it’s the longest by far on the album, so I won't have to deal with this sort of length anywhere else on this record. I’m sure it’s great for those who are into this sort of thing, but it does nothing for me and it doesn’t sound like progressive rock at all. I probably should have avoided this one. Oh well. Only six more tracks to go. Help! “Kings and Queens” is a little more sedate, though it doesn’t take long for the horns to stick their noses in. At least they’re more restrained here, and the melody seems to ride on a bass/double-bass line in a far slower tempo. That was actually quite relaxing. Violin-like screeches and - what are they? Oh yes. More horns - in “Fletcher’s Blemish”, where even the piano lets me down as Ratledge starts playing dissonant chords, boo. Just a hot mess, to me.

That leaves us with four tracks, all I guess linked as they’re called “Virtually Parts 1, 2, 3 and 4”. Part 1 opens with double-bass and oh look! I didn’t expect that! Horns! Sussurating drums from Robert Wyatt and what sounds like a guitar but isn’t, quite low-key and not very annoying at all but I fear it’s luring me into a false sense of security, ready to kick me in the head in part 2. You just wait. You’ll see. Horns rising now as if to say “we’re gonna get you!” well, sounds like someone playing an old Casio plastic keyboard or a kazoo now, as we slide into part 2, not as jarring as I had expected - yet. Still relatively restrained, so maybe there’s hope. The horns go wild but are more or less kept in check by the steady, deliberate piano line and then part 3 is where it all begins to slip a little. Expected, but still.

Squeaky sounds like someone turning a wheel that needs oil or something merge with a nice organ and maybe some sort of synth if they had them, an effect of some sort if not; again it’s a slow tempo so not too bad, quite spacey and ambient in ways and that leaves us with part 4 to close, which seems to carry the same basic theme and melody over from the previous track. Nowhere near as bad as I had feared it might be.

Favourite track(s): Yeah right
Least favourite track(s):
Overall impression: Couldn’t call this prog rock, but though there’s a lot of free jazz on it is it really that genre either? Quite a lot of ambient music, so not quite sure where to place it. Continues my dislike of Soft Machine though, and while it’s not the ordeal I had expected it to be, I still wouldn't be listening to it again unless I had to.
Personal Rating: 2.0 (higher than I had expected)
Legacy Rating: 3.0
Final Rating: 2.5

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