Ea-Ed

Eaglebone Whistle (USA): Eaglebone Whistle (Fretless FR 152, 1981)
Folk
Jane Gillman (joint lead vocals, guitar, harmonica), Stephanie Beardsley (joint lead vocals, bass)
American folk is not one of my favourite styles, but this is a good album with some intricate playing. Nonetheless I do vastly prefer the (mostly Irish) instrumentals to the (mostly American) songs. GRADE: C+.

Earcandy (UK/USA): Space Is Just A Place (Poor Person Productions PPPR1, with poster, UK, 1993)
Psychedelic/Folk
Helen McCombie (occasional vocals, cello)
The first release on this fascinating Devon-based private label, set up by American expatriate Dave Tor, is very much a vehicle for singer, guitarist and percussionist Mike Curtis, joined here by Helen McCombie on cello and vocals and Tor on electronically treated vocals and effects. The end results – mixing electric guitar jamming and desolate folkish songs (peaking on the haunting ‘Listen’) – are odd and minimalist, but very effective and atmospheric. GRADE: B–.
Earcandy (UK/USA): Sound Is Just The Way You Ear It (Poor Person Productions PPPR5, with poster, UK, 1995)
Psychedelic/Folk
Mandie Tor (occasional vocals)
Earcandy’s third album (their second was by an all-male line-up) offers an unusual mix of amateurish instrumentals, haunting songs and Cheech & Chong-style stoned humour. It’s all very impressionistic, and tripped-out to the max, but despite including some fine moments, doesn’t quite hang together. The CD version (Lone Starfighter LSD005, USA, 1995) includes a lengthy bonus track. GRADE: C+.

Earcandy (UK/USA): Tasting 1, 2, 3 Tasting (Poor Person Productions PPPR8, with booklet and insert, UK, 1995)
Psychedelic
Mandie Tor (occasional vocals)
A considerably stronger album than its predecessor, Tasting 1, 2, 3 Tasting centres around the 25-minute guitar-and-spoken word jam ‘Telescopic Voyager’. However, it also throws a bit of everything into the mix, including a snatch of Parisienne café-style music: all very trippy, all fairly low-key and lo-fi, and much of it with an unwelcome drum machine. Nonetheless, this is a likeable album, heightened by the amusing booklet, which compares the journey through the album to a restaurant meal. GRADE: C+.
EarCandy (UK/USA): Blossom (Poor Person Productions PPPR16, CDR, UK, 1998)
Rock/Psychedelic
Vicky Rolfe (joint lead vocals)
This is a radical departure for EarCandy (and quite unusual for the label in general), being a fairly straight rock album with a few minor psychedelic edges. It’s nice enough stuff, with some mellow songs featuring decent hooks and a few pleasantly trippy moments. GRADE: C+.

See also Apotheosis, Bus Trip, Famous Unknowns, Mynd Muzic,Ozley’s Acid

Earth & Fire (Holland): Earth And Fire (Polydor 2441 011, 1970)
Pop/Rock/Psychedelic/Progressive
Jerney Kaagman (principal vocals)
Quite different to their later albums, this owes a heavy debt to their countrymen Shocking Blue and also to Jefferson Airplane (notably on ‘Seasons’ and the high octane opener ‘Wild And Exciting’). However, it also takes in what sounds like a progressive rock twist on Abba (‘Love Quiver’) and a bizarre but superb fusion of heavy metal and dreamlike elements (‘Vivid Shady Land’). The mix of styles won’t please every listener, but this is probably my favourite of their albums (although it’s not objectively their best), with some brilliant songwriting and an underlying naïveté that they never recovered. A couple of outtakes were used as B-sides, with ‘Mechanical Lover’ being particularly good. The Dutch LP had a novelty ‘matchbook’ cover, whilst the more expensive UK issue featured a die-cut Roger Dean gatefold. GRADE: B.
Earth & Fire (Holland): Song Of The Marching Children (Polydor 2925 003, 1971)
Progressive
Jerney Kaagman (lead vocals)
Unrecognisable from its predecessor released just thirteen months earlier, this is an attempt to make a serious symphonic progressive album, complete with a side-long suite. It’s hugely successful, too: ‘Song Of The Marching Children’ is one of the best prog suites imaginable, with a succession of gorgeous melodies, superb Mellotron textures and well-judged but never flashy shifts of mood and tempo. As a bonus, Jerney Kaagman’s odd, emotionless voice suits it perfectly. Over on side one, ‘Storm And Thunder’ is the most evocative thing they ever did: a marvellous prog triumph perfectly capturing the atmosphere of tranquil farmland rent by the power of nature. The other three cuts (two songs and an instrumental) aren’t at the same level, but all have the same sonic hallmarks and work well enough on their own terms. GRADE: A–.
Earth & Fire (Holland): Atlantis (Polydor 2925 013, with insert, 1973)
Progressive
Jerney Kaagman (lead vocals)
The side-long title suite isn’t as well structured as its predecessor – it’s basically a collection of discrete but sometimes repeated themes and songs – but contains some outstanding passages. On the second side, ‘Maybe Tomorrow, Maybe Tonight’ typifies their fascinatingly odd singles of the era, sounding, as nearly as one can describe it, like an Abba tune played by King Crimson. Meanwhile, ‘Interlude’ and the succeeding ‘Fanfare’ are truly breathtaking symphonic progressive, with the latter sporting a haunting and eerie melody and desolate lyrics, with everything swathed in layer upon layer of Mellotron. This is simply an astounding album. GRADE: A–.
Earth & Fire (Holland): To The World Of The Future (Polydor 2925 033, 1975)
Progressive/Pop/Rock
Jerney Kaagman (principal vocals)
Album number four sees the band moving in a more commercial direction and rapidly losing their flair for songwriting. The two 45s included are ‘Love Of Life’ (an early flirtation with disco, first issued the previous year) and the far inferior ‘Only Time Will Tell’ (easily their worst single to date). Elsewhere, the eleven-minute title cut is quite poorly structured and arranged but contains some impressive musical passages; ‘How Time Flies’ is a rather gothic ballad; the instrumental ‘The Last Seagull’ starts as lukewarm jazz/funk but develops into powerful symphonic rock; and ‘Voice From Yonder’ adds some experimentation by including a ghost’s voice allegedly recorded at a séance. Overall, the album resembles the proverbial curate’s egg – intermittently brilliant, but largely frustrating, disjointed and rather inept.

GRADE: C+.
Earth & Fire (Holland): Gate To Infinity (Poydor 2925 065, with insert, 1977)
Progressive/Pop
Jerney Kaagman (principal vocals)
Side one has the side-long title suite, but it’s far removed from ‘Song Of The Marching Children’ or ‘Atlantis’. The suite may formally recall prog, with songs and instrumentals stitched together, but it’s musically rather tepid, with languorous playing and a slight disco tinge. It’s a masterpiece compared to most of the second side, including two horribly overblown pop singles (‘78th Avenue’ and the revolting reggae-flavoured ‘Green Park Station’) and a remarkably faithful impersonation of Olivia Newton-John (‘Smile’). Only the two more progressive pieces ‘Dizzy Raptures’ and ‘Driftin’’ work well on this side, and even these aren’t brilliant thanks to a slightly portentous stage musical feel to the former and a rather mediocre song wedded to some excellent riffs on the latter. GRADE: C–.
Earth & Fire (Holland): Reality Fills Fantasy (Vertigo 6413 501, with insert, 1979)
Pop/Disco
Jerney Kaagman (lead vocals)
The good news is that the songs here are competently written – there are no formless messes as on the previous couple of albums. The bad news is that disco casts a long shadow over the LP; it’s a musical form for which they have zero talent, and the songs are little more than bland assemblages of late seventies pop clichés. The somnolent trio of ‘Can’t Live Without It Any More’, ‘Where Were You?’ and ‘Season Of The Falling Leaves’ in the middle of the album is virtually unlistenable, but the eleven-minute opener ‘People Come, People Go’ and token instrumental ‘Answer Me’ have lots of disco elements as well (a pity, as both would be halfway decent without them). That leaves only another reggae-flavoured piece ‘Weekend’ (their biggest-ever hit single, thanks to its annoying marimba riff) and the vaguely Jefferson Starship-like rocker ‘Fire Of Love’ – by far the album’s best cut. For sure, the disco era saw some strange creative decisions by white rock bands, but Reality Fills Fantasy is the oddest of them all. GRADE: E+.
Earth & Fire (Holland): Andromeda Girl (Vertigo 6399 271, 1981)
Pop/Rock
Jerney Kaagman (principal vocals)
The twelve-minute title track is excellent prog and the best thing they issued after 1973, with the first half having delicate baroque strings and the second a lively synthesiser-based rock arrangement. The rest of side one is pop/rock with proggy riffs and soios, slightly recalling their early seventies singles; this material would be quite good if not for the heavy-handed period production. Side two, however, is a washout, with the band once again trying their hand at disco (a style well past its commercial peak, presumably even in Holland) and jazz/funk. As on Reality Fills Fantasy, they prove they have no aptitude for these styles whatever, and the resulting material is simply embarrassing. Ultimately, one wonders what possessed them to make an album as schizophrenic as this: were they throwing in the prog stuff to placate their old fans or was that what they really wanted to do, with the disco material a desperate attempt to score hits and make money? GRADE: C–.
Earth & Fire (Holland): In A State Of Flux (Dureco Benelux 88.050, 1982)
Pop/Rock
Jerney Kaagman (principal vocals)
Their first album with no progressive influences – even the seven-minute ‘I Don’t Know Why’ and the instrumental title track offer no complexity whatever – is a sorry affair. The songs are packed with catchy hooklines but these mostly sound borrowed, and the whole thing is strangely amateurish, giving the impression that it was thrown together quickly without any love or care. Whilst most of Reality Fills Fantasy is notably worse, this is overall their least listenable album. GRADE: E+.
Earth & Fire (Holland): Phoenix (CNR CD/860019, CD, 1989)
Pop/Rock
Jerney Kaagman (lead vocals)
How far this should be regarded as a genuine Earth & Fire album is debatable, since the Koerts twins (the mainstays of the original band, and composers of most of its material) are not involved, instead concentrating on making high-tech instrumental prog as ‘Earth & Fire Orchestra’. Instead, Kayak’s Ton Scherpenzeel joins on keyboards and writes most of the songs with his long-term partner Irene Linders, as does bassist Bert Ruiter. These were the same composers as on Kaagman’s second solo album Run, so not surprisingly this mostly sounds like Run with fuller band arrangements. In fairness, it’s not a dreadful LP, and there are hints of the old Earth & Fire sound (some occasional symphonic edges, plus one slightly extended proggy cut ‘Streets Of Shame’) but mostly this is anonymous eighties pop and soft rock. GRADE: D+.
See also Jerney Kaagman

Earth Electric (Portugal/Norway): Vol. 1: Solar (Season Of Mist SOM 407D, CD, with digipak and poster booklet, France, 2017)
Metal/Progressive
Carmen Susana Simoes (lead vocals)
This progressive metal album from the principals of Ava Inferi isn’t exactly groundbreaking, but its pummelling riffs, lush keyboards and intricate song structures are pretty persuasive. They’re not afraid to experiment, either – the closing ‘Sweet Soul Gathering’ lives up to its name by drawing and soul and gospel music, and the whole thing makes me eagerly await Vol. 2. GRADE: B–.
See also Ava Inferi

Earthen Vessel (USA): Hard Rock – Everlasting Life (No label, 1971)
Blues/Rock/Psychedelic
Sharon Keel (joint lead vocals, keyboards, percussion)
Running for just over half an hour, this bluesy garage rock album has considerable heft and power, but despite almost constant wailing fuzz guitar has a dark, raw feel that’s far removed from the trippiness of psychedelia. Their sound is comparable to both Touch and to fellow Christians US Apple Corps, whose ‘Get High’ they cover to close the set. Whilst opinions vary significantly on the LP, I find it a great example of its genre if not especially distinctive. GRADE: B–.

Sally Eaton (USA): Farewell American Tour (Paramount PAS 5021, 1971)
Singer/Songwriter/Psychedelic
The odd cover, depicting Eaton with an antiquated hairstyle and wearing an ornate frilly blouse, has led this album to be lumped in with the ‘incredibly strange music’ crowd. That’s a pity, as Eaton was a capable songwriter with an appealing, if rather strange, voice (she sometimes sounds like a frail Janis Joplin, if such a thing can be imagined). The acid-drenched, tabla-driven ‘Flowers In The Air’ is the best-known track, largely owing to its inclusion on the notorious Hippie Goddesses compilation, but the LP is accomplished throughout, creating some good bluesy rock and psychedelic folk vibes. It’s also significant for being one of the relatively few singer/songwriter albums of the era to take its musical cues from the hippie and psychedelic movements. GRADE: C+.

Ebb (UK): Death And The Maiden (Boudicca, CD, with A4 book, 2019)
Rock
Erin Bennett (principal vocals, guitar), Kitty Biscuits (occasional vocals), Nikki Francis (keyboards, flute), Anna Fraser (drums, percussion), Suna Dasi (backing vocals)
This mostly female band, masterminded by singer/songwriter Erin Bennett, offer an unusual style on their debut EP. Blending influences from garage rock, hard rock, post-punk and prog with all kinds of other elements, the disc features six intriguing, slightly amateurish, rather raw songs with plenty of joie de vivre. The only comparison that really springs to mind is the Bluehorses, but this is far less folky, so even that isn’really much of a comparison. GRADE: C+.

Ebb (UK): Mad And Killing Time (Boudicca, CD, with A5 book, 2022)

Progressive

Erin Bennett (principal vocals, guitar, trumpet), Kitty Biscuits (occasional vocals, percussion), Nikki Francis (keyboards, flute, saxophone, clarinet), Suna Dasi (synthesiser, backing vocals), Anna Fraser (drums, percussion)

With its snatches of spoken voice, lush keyboards and mellow saxophone, this much more mature second ventuire often sounds like an updated Dark Side Of The Moon. However, unlike most Floyd copyists (notably Solar Project, let alone the more blatantly similar Cosmos) Ebb have influences that stretch far beyond Floyd. More importantly, they also have the quality that made Floyd truly special in the first place – eccentricity, as song titles like ‘Vorspiel/Grieg’s Diner’, ‘Violet Is Tits’ and ‘Krystal At The Red light’ imply. GRADE: B–.

Ebb (UK): The Management Of Consequences (Boudicca, CD, with A5 book, 2024)

Progressive

This 18-minute, three-track EP builds on the promise shown by the band’s second album, offering some excellent space-rock with a high level of eccentricity and invention. Once again, the lovely packaging (an A5 softcover book narrating the story behind the concept) is the icing on the cake. GRADE: B–.

Ebbanflo (USA): Spectre Of Paradise (Harmonic Tremor HT-801, 1980)
Folk/Rock
Susan Smith (joint lead vocals, guitar, bass, percussion)
Sounding several years earlier than its release date, this is a breezy album of hippie folk from a male and female duo plus guests. The music has jazzy edges and an occasional acid-folk feel, with instrumentation based around acoustic guitar and hand percussion, with good use of flute on some tracks. They’re also solid songwriters, making for an enjoyable set, but although Susan Smith is an excellent vocalist with a mellow style I’m not overly keen on the male singer’s voice. GRADE: C+.

Ebony Tower (UK): Dead Planets New Stars (RRed Chord RCR001, CD, 2009)
Metal
Rebecca Everitt (joint lead vocals), Sande (joint lead vocals), Skye Sheridan (violin)
Offering three slices of rather good symphonic metal and one even better hard rock number (somewhat recalling ZZ Top in particular and Southern Rock in general), this EP shows a fair amount of promise. It was supposed to be the trailer for a full album, but the band never released anything else. GRADE: C+.

(EC) Nudes (USA): Vanishing Point (RéR N1, CD, UK, 1994)
Progressive/Jazz/Avant-garde
Amy Denio (lead vocals, bass, accordion, saxophone)
A bit RIO, a bit Canterbury, a bit avant- garde and always unexpected, this is far too schizophrenic to delight everyone all the way through. However, it is consistently very accomplished. GRADE: B–.
See also Billy Tipton Memorial Saxophone Quartet, Curlew, Danubians, Amy Denio, Fomoflo, Pale Nudes, Science Group, Tone Dogs

Eccentric Orbit (USA): Attack Of The Martians (Eccentric Orbit EOCD1, CDR, 2004)
Progressive
Madeleine Noland (keyboards, wind synthesiser)
No surprises for guessing from the band name, album title and cover depicting a clockwork alien that this all-instrumental album has strong space-rock influences. However, despite track titles like ‘Star Power’, ‘Sputnik’, ‘Forbidden Planet’ and ‘The Day The Earth Stood Still’ the music is far closer to symphonic progressive than Hawkwind. With the band fronted by two keyboardists, the music sometimes recalls ELP, but is far less bombastic and classically influenced, with lush layers of synthesiser and sampled Mellotron and a nicely trippy edge. Beautifully crafted and full of dynamics, this is as good an album of instrumental prog as anyone could wish for. GRADE: B–.
Eccentric Orbit (USA): Creation Of The Humanoids (Eccentric Orbit EOCD2, CD, with digipak, 2014)
Progressive
Madeleine Noland (keyboards, wind synthesiser)
Issued ten years after their first, their second album is in the same instrumental prog vein whilst sounding a lot more modern. Adding plenty of fuzz bass and violin and blending in influences from contemporary psychedelia, ethnic music and heavy rock, this is an excellent and very varied set that almost runs the gamut from Gong to Kong. GRADE: B–.

Echo Tattoo (Greece): Echo Tattoo (Studio II ST II 02, with insert, 1992)
Folk/Rock/Psychedelic
Evie Hasapidou-Watson (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards, tambourine), Youla Kavouri (organ)
This blends influences from various different kinds of music: principally folk and psychedelia, but also everything from blues to goth and new wave. The two constants are the trippy atmosphere and superb spacy guitar work; a couple of the songs are highly impressive too, but mostly the writing is less striking than the chops. The most interesting cut is ‘Hey I’m Singing You’, which appears twice: once as a beautiful, haunting folk/rocker and once in an early seventies hippie hard rock style. GRADE: C+.

Echofields (Germany): 817 (Days) (No label, CD, 2003)
Pop/Rock
Katja Hübner (joint lead vocals), Cerstin Gwen (joint lead vocals), Nerissa Schwartz (harp)
The band is appropriately named: their gentle brand of atmospheric rock sets echoing guitars and harp against drifting soundscapes that borrow from trip-hop, all topped with pop-influenced hooklines. It’s nice stuff, though so unobtrusive that it functions more as background music than anything to grab the attention. They subsequently mutated into the more prog-oriented Frequency Drift. GRADE: C+.
See also Coronal Rain, Frequency Drift, Still Silent

Echosilence (Estonia): Distorted Horizon (Nailboard Board 008, CD, 2005)
Metal/Progressive
Kadri Ratt (lead vocals)
This experimental album falls broadly under the banner of metal, but pummelling riffs are relatively rare here (although they do occur, and are very effective). There’s a definite jazz influence at play, although the music isn’t really jazzy, and they use a fair bit of studio trickery, with multiple layers of guitars dominating the arrangements. Add in a few postrock elements too and a definite Joy Division tinge, and you’re coming close to grasping the essence of Echosilence: that is, until Kadri Ratt’s gentle, plaintive vocals take centre stage. GRADE: B–.

Echostar (USA): Sola (Shadow SDW157-2, CD, with digipak, 2003)
Pop/Dance
Martha Schwendener
This solo project by Bowery Electric’s Martha Schwendener basically takes certain tendencies of the parent’s bands music to their logical conclusion. Gentle, trippy and atmospheric, it’s featherlight electronica with wispy vocals and a nicely atmospheric feel, though an almost complete lack of substance. GRADE: C+.
See also Bowery Electric

Alain Eckert Quartet (France): Alain Eckert Quartet (L’Amanite 011, 1981)
Jazz/Rock
Patricia Dallio (piano)
This one-off project was something of a supergroup, made up of members of Art Zoyd (guitarist Alain Eckert and pianist Patricia Dallio) and Strave (Eckert again, drummer Serge Bringolf and bassist Alain Lecointe). This is nowhere near as weird as Art Zoyd or as expansive as Strave, offering fairly straightforward jazz/rock with a slightly funky edge, but it’s very good. GRADE: C+.
See also Art Zoyd, Patricia Dallio

Eclection (UK/Australia/Canada/Norway): Eclection (Elektra EKS 4023, 1968)
Folk/Rock
Kerrilee Male (joint lead vocals)
This band’s line-up was eclectic indeed, including members from three different continents. Their sole album has an unusual style, blending complex Beach Boys-like harmonies with dreamy folk/rock backing and some fairly prominent trumpet work and orchestration; the results have a wonderfully quaint and trippy feel. Georg Hultgren later went on to considerable commercial success with Sailor, but Trevor Lucas and Gerry Conway are likely to be far better-known to readers of this volume. Dorris Henderson was later a member, but after the album was recorded. GRADE: C+.

Eclipse (Canada): Eclipse (CBS FS 90340, with inner, 1976)
Progressive
Marie-France Paquin (principal vocals)
At its best (the gorgeous opener ‘Vision Intérieure’ and the slightly more experimental ‘Pleine Lune’) this is excellent synthesiser-led soft progressive. However, the LP is wide-ranging indeed, from funky jazz-fusion to mainstream guitar rock, so it’s not particularly cohesive although a high standard is maintained throughout. The band’s second and final album Night And Day should be avoided at all costs, being a male vocal disco affair of very low quality. GRADE: C+.

Eclipse (Brazil): Jumping From Springboards (Rock Symphony RSLN 085, CD, 2003)
Progressive
Patrícia Deschamps (lead vocals, guitar)
Elegant, spare and mildly jazzy, this sophisticated progressive album blends acoustic and electric instruments on well-crafted instrumentals, suites and songs. Occasionally it hints towards other South American bands like Bacamarte, though Eclipse have little of that band’s knack for writing truly memorable hooks. As such, this is a fine progressive album by any standard, but – with the possible exception of the more intense closer ‘Ritual’ – it doesn’t have the X-factor that would have made it a true classic. GRADE: B–..

Eclipse Sol-Air (Germany/France): The Dark Side Guide (No label, CD, Germany, 2005)
Progressive
Eva Fickert (joint lead vocals)
This German band’s debut isn’t the mellow sympho-prog I was expecting – it’s far more interesting than that. Their stripped-down brand of garage prog is unusual and distinctive, with vocals (including some quite unusual male singing) in four languages, hard rock-influenced guitars and almost martial drums; I can hear echoes of mid-seventies Amon Düül II, Tyll and others. The results aren’t always brilliant and are frequently amateurish, but it’s the home-made feel of the piece that helps to elevate it, and the band are certainly full of intriguing ideas and effective riffs. GRADE: B–.
Eclipse Sol-Air (Germany/France): Bartók’s Crisis (No label, CD, Germany, 2010)
Progressive
Mireille Vicogne (joint lead vocals, flute), Katharina Strobel (violin)
Recorded by leader Philippe Matic-Arnauld des Lions with an entirely new line-up, their second album is as eccentric and adventurous as their first whilst being far more professional. Mireille Vicogne’s violin adds a strong neoclassical edge, and this once again covers a huge range of territory, from lively rock passages to piano and drum solos. If it has a failing, it’s on the long side, but that’s a minor quibble as for the most part this is a masterclass in modern symphonic progressive – varied without being disjointed, experimental without being atonal, and ambitious without being bombastic. GRADE: B.

Eclipse Sol-Air (Germany/France): Schizophilia (Artist Station ASR 331214, CD, 2012)
Progressive
Mireille Vicogne (joint lead vocals, flute), Agatha Sörgel (violin)
Whilst this is a charming album – mellow, tuneful and delightfully executed, with Mireille Vicogne’s flute intertwining effectively with Agatha Sörgel’s violin – it’s also a good deal less adventurous and exploratory than their first two. In fact, this is entirely song-based, with nothing over ten minutes, and despite its great melodies and riffs is a significant step down for the band. GRADE: C+.
Eclipse Sol-Air (Germany/France/Italy): Live At Olympia Park Munich (No label, DVDR, Germany, 2016)
Progressive
Mireille Vicogne (occasional vocals, flute), Melina Mayer-Gallo (keyboards), Myriam Gessendorfer (violin, backing vocals)
This short live DVD clearly demonstrates Eclipse Sol-Air to be very much a rock band. They’ve got a great light show and plenty of energy, and they’re pretty theatrical too – frontman Philippe Matic-Arnauld des Lions performs one song in a straightjacket and another in goggles and gauntlets. I can hear hints of everyone from Amon Düül II to Jefferson Airplane here, and whilst this sees them focusing on the straighter end of their repertoire the performances are so good that it’s a wonderful complement to their studio sets. GRADE: B.

Ectomorph (UK): The Sleeper Awakes (Woronzow WOO 15, with insert, 1991)
Garage/Psychedelic
Bernadette Keefe (joint lead vocals, violin), Catherine O’ Sullivan (joint lead vocals, keyboards)
This is enjoyable and accomplished early nineties psych, varying between fuzz-driven rockers and dreamier, trippier pieces, with snippets of spoken word recordings mixed in. According to the insert, they also issued a cassette of outtakes and non-LP tracks called A Splendid Dichotomy, but I’ve never encountered it. GRADE: C+.

Eden (West Germany): Erwartung (Lord 33.523, with inner, 1978)
Progressive
Anne Dierks (occasional vocals), Annette Schmalenbach (occasional vocals)
Most Christian progressive albums are rooted in folk/rock, with fairly simplistic singalong material spiced up by tempo changes and classical frills. This is anything but, being genuinely complex and adventurous symphonic progressive, with everything from lush keyboards and strings to electronically treated vocals and prepared piano. The material is well crafted, with some great hooks, and if the songs are occasionally a little disjointed the constant surprises more than make up for it. The band – which comprised eleven people and sounds like a full orchestra plus a choir – was the brainchild of composer and multi-instrumentalist Dirk Schmalenbach, who excels on guitar, keyboards, percussion, violin and sitar. GRADE: B–.
Eden (West Germany): Perelandra (Lord 33.528, with inner, 1980)
Progressive
Anne Dierks (joint lead vocals), Annette Schmalenbach (joint lead vocals)
Quite different from their first, this tones down the classical edges considerably and drastically reduces the level of complexity. The result is a pleasant sympho-prog album mixing relaxed songs based around hard rock guitars and synthesisers with a few folkier instrumentals. It’s a good deal better than much prog being released at the turn of the eighties, but also a touch disappointing after their impressive debut. In any case, the best number is probably the beautiful synthesiser and violin-led instrumental ‘Im Bragdon-Wald’. GRADE: C+.
Eden (West Germany): Heimkehr (Pila EM 20 002, with inner, 1981)
Progressive
Anne Dierks (occasional vocals), Annette Schmalenbach (occasional vocals), Irene Heidenreich (occasional vocals)
Their third and final album is different yet again, moving them closer to the folk/rock and soft rock style typical of Christian bands. Nonetheless, this is nice stuff, with rich symphonic keyboards and varied arrangements on songs of up to ten minutes. GRADE: C+.

Eden House (UK): Smoke And Mirrors (Jungle FREUDCD100, CD, with digipak, 2009)
Pop/Rock/Psychedelic
Julianne Regan (joint lead vocals), Evi Vine (joint lead vocals), Monica Richards (occasional vocals)
It’s no accident that Julianne Regan fronts three of these songs – Eden House’s music isn’t a million miles removed from later All About Eve, offering swirling psychedelic pop with epic arrangements. In fact, the sweeping strings sometimes bring James Bond themes to mind, and the whole thing has a widescreen mood that makes the album quite distinctive. GRADE: C+.