RICHARD FALK's REVIEWS
I-Il
I Am The Manic Whale (UK): Everything Beautiful In Time (No label, CD, with digipak and booklet, 2015)
Progressive
Ella Lloyd (flute)
This oddly named band’s debut album on one hand recalls the less jazzy and more melodic end of Canterbury sounds from the seventies and on the other recalls contemporaries like Schnauser. With a singer/songwriter edge to much of the material and some well-observed lyrics, this is a rather understated record but also a very well crafted one, with lots of interesting musical diversions and a complete lack of ostentation. Despite being credited as a full member, flautist Ella Lloyd barely appears on the LP. GRADE: B–.
Iamthemorning (Russian Federation): Iamthemorning (No label, CD, with digipak, 2012)
Progressive
Mariana Semkina (lead vocals)
This duo of a vocalist and a keyboardist, backed by a chamber orchestra and intermittently a rock band, deliver an unusual and atmospheric debut. The material has a singer/songwriter feel, with piano and strings used to good effect, but pieces are linked together to create an almost progressive tapestry of sound punctuated with some heavier rock moments. With passages hinting at everyone from Kate Bush and Enya to any number of seventies prog greats, it all adds up to a varied and satisfying set. GRADE: B–.
Iamthemorning (Russian Federation): Belighted (Kscope KSCDPE305, CD, with digipak and booklet, Germany, 2014)
Progressive
Mariana Semkina (lead vocals)
The style here is similar to their debut, but this is overall a step up: the melodies are more haunting and the rock sections more dynamic. It also confirms the impression that, whilst drawing on numerous other acts, Iamthemorning create a sound that is all their own. GRADE: B–.
Iamthemorning (Russian Federation): From The House Of Arts (No label, CD, with digipak and booklet, 2015)
Progressive
Mariana Semkina (lead vocals)
I was curious how Iamthemorning’s complex, ornate music would translate to a live setting: the answer is surprisingly well. As effective onstage as in the studio, they turn in a fine performance with plenty of dynamics and lots of variety. GRADE: B–.
Iamthemorning (Russian Federation): Lighthouse (Kscope KSCOPE352, CD, with digipak and booklet, Germany, 2016)
Progressive
Mariana Semkina (lead vocals)
Once again, they don’t sound like anyone else and once again the music is dreamlike and atmospheric, with lush orchestrated ballads punctuated by passages of elegant progressive rock. It’s a style that on paper shouldn’t work at all, but it does – quite brilliantly. GRADE: B–.
Iamthemorning (Russian Federation): Ocean Sounds (Kscope KSCOPE608, CD plus Blu-ray, with digipak and booklet, 2018)
Progressive
Mariana Semkina (lead vocals)
As with their debut, this sometimes puts me in mind of Kate Bush, but overall Iamthemorning’s music – voice-and-piano-led ballads with occasional rock elements and lots of classical references – doesn’t really resemble anyone else. As with many highly distinctive artists, there’s not much sense of artistic progression from one album to the next, but when the music is this beautiful and haunting it’s a minor issue. The Blu-ray consists of the band performing (or possibly miming to) the music from the album in an intimate domestic setting, and is a nice bonus. GRADE: B–.
Iamthemorning (Russian Federation): The Bell (Kscope KSCOPE638, CD, with gatefold minisleeve, inner and booklet, Germany, 2019)
Singer/Songwriter/Progressive
Mariana Semkina (lead vocals, guitar)
Iamthemorning’s blend of early Kate Bush and the straightest end of seventies Renaissance is undeniably effective, and The Bell is undeniably beautiful, but they’re starting to become too sedate for their own good. With only two really progressive breaks – one near the beginning and one near the end – this is closer to conventional singer/songwriter music and chamber folk than prog. The instrumental break near the end is superb, introducing rock elements for the first and only time, and it hugely lifts the album – in fact, it single-handedly lifts it from a C+ to a B–. GRADE: B–.
Iamthemorning (Russian Federation): Counting The Ghosts (No label, CD, with gatefold minisleeve, slipcase and postcard, 2020)
Singer/Songwriter/Folk
Mariana Semkina (lead vocals, guitar)
It’s probably unfair to judge this private Christmas release – a 14-minute EP featuring acapella versions of two traditional numbers plus two self-penned songs – against their albums. Nonetheless, it’s a nice addition to their canon and contains some haunting music, even if the progressive edges that make their albums so special are entirely absent here. GRADE: C+.
See also Mariana Semkina
Ice (USA): Melting Your Mind (Bonny 1211L, 1972)
Rock
Robin Young (occasional vocals)
This rare album has been hyped as a masterpiece of underground psychedelia on dealer lists, whilst other reference sources have described it as musically worthless. The truth, as usual, lies somewhere in the middle, but overall it’s fairly patchy (and very short, at just over twenty-five minutes). The best cut is the excellent jam ‘Five Card Draw’ with some stinging lead guitar, whilst Robin Young contributes some strong Grace Slick-like vocals to the opening ‘Daughter Of Venus’. The rest varies between rather limp attempts at dreaminess and fairly generic West Coast rock not dissimilar to the last couple of It’s A Beautiful Day albums. However, ‘In My Oldsmobile’ is close to a novelty song, and truly annoying. Finally, it’s worth noting that this has an odd mix, with all the vocals off-centre. GRADE: C.
Iconoclasta (Mexico): Iconoclasta (Discos Rosenbach DR 001, 1983)
Progressive
Rosa Echevarría de Moreno (occasional vocals), Nohemí d’Rubín (bass)
This virtually all-instrumental prog album offers a wide range of moods and styles, from dynamic rock to softer symphonic passages, all with fiery musicianship but a complete absence of ostentation. With a distinctly South American sound, it sometimes recalls Estructura and to a much lesser extent Enfasis, as well as demonstrating influences from a number of seventies European bands, but it’s far from predictable or derivative. Overall, this is an impressive debut that avoids most of the pitfalls associated with instrumental albums.
GRADE: B–.
Iconoclasta (Mexico): Reminiscencias (Discos Rosenbach DR 002, with insert, 1986)
Progressive
Laura Vázquez (occasional vocals), Nohemí d’Rubín (guitar, bass, synthesiser, backing vocals), Rosa Flora Moreno (keyboards, backing vocals)
Their second album is a more ambitious affair, being a conceptual set with a side-long suite and involvement from a large choir. That said, I like it a lot less. The more pastoral passages drag somewhat, whilst the uptempo pieces are clumsier and more ostentatious than on their first; whilst the suite contains some good music, it’s not enormously well-assembled, and the overall feeling is that of a capable band overreaching itself. GRADE: C+.
Iconoclasta (Mexico): Soliloquio (Discos Rosenbach DR 009, with insert, 1987)
Progressive
Laura Vázquez (joint lead vocals), Nohemí d’Rubín (bass), Rosa Flora Moreno (keyboards)
Album number three is much more song-based, although still dominated by long instrumental passages. Unfortunately, despite a few excellent moments, it’s rather a messy record, with lots of flashy playing and some awkward marriages between the vocal and instrumental sections. Seemingly, the more ambitious Iconoclasta become, the less listenable their music becomes as a result. GRADE: C+.
Iconoclasta (Mexico): La Rencarnación De Maquiavelo (Avanzada Metálika KCT 43, CD, 1992)
Progressive
Nohemí d’Rubín (lead vocals, bass)
After a couple of albums with an all-male line-up, Nohemí d’Rubín returned to the band for this enjoyable LP. Marking a return to the less pretentious style of their debut, this features seven instrumentals and one song (which is good – a first for Iconoclasta). This is much jazzier than anything they’ve done before, with plenty of horns on ‘Quien Alcanza Su Ideal’; overall this is their best album since their first, but slightly marred by the cheesy synthesiser sounds favoured on most cuts. GRADE: C+.
Iconoclasta (Mexico): De Todos Uno (Spectrum Audio DSCD 001, CD, 1994)
Progressive
Nohemí d’Rubín (lead vocals, bass)
With three songs and seven instrumentals, this is a bit more vocal than La Rencarnación De Maquiavelo. It’s also harder rocking and less jazzy, with more guitar-dominated arrangements. Overall this is a solid set, with some excellent moments, and easily the equal of its predecessor. GRADE: C+.
Iconoclasta (Mexico): La Granja Humana (No label, CD, 2000)
Progressive
Nohemí d’Rubín (bass)
This all-instrumental set isn’t quite the return to form one might have hoped for: whilst there is some excellent music here, it also plods a little in parts. Notwithstanding, the disc contains some outstanding cuts, particularly the more pastoral sections fronted by recorder (played by Greta Romero Silva, who would subsequently replace Nohemí d’Rubín in the band). GRADE: C+.
Iconoclasta (Mexico): Live In France (Metropolis CDM-6011, CD, 2002)
Progressive
Nohemí d’Rubín (bass)
For some reason, this is by far the hardest Iconoclasta album to track down, and it took me several years to find a copy. As with its studio predecessor, it’s entirely instrumental and offers some nice chunky rock structures and a good level of energy, but there’s not much experimentation or adventure here. GRADE: C+.
Iconoclasta (Mexico): Resurrección (Luna Negra CDLN-41, CD, 2009)
Progressive
Alma Castillo (joint lead vocals), Greta Romero Silva (joint lead vocals, bass)
Completely different from its predecessor, this mostly consists of fairly short songs with a strong seventies influence and definite metal edges. Occasionally they’re very good (notably the riff-driven ‘El Perro De Pavlov’) but a lot of the arrangements are rather messy and the instrumental suite in the middle is a little patchy too. GRADE: C+.
Iconoclasta (Mexico): Movalidad (No label, CD, with gatefold minisleeve, 2013)
Rock/Progressive
Greta Romero Silva (joint lead vocals, bass)
Given their complex instrumental beginnings, I never imagined Iconoclasta would issue an album like this: straightforward song-based rock, with the progressive elements coming from the jazzy time signatures and guitar flourishes. In a sense it’s a logical step forward from Resurreción, but if they keep in the same direction their next step will take them into mainstream pop/rock. GRADE: C+.
Iconoclasta (Mexico): Concierto De Aniversario – 35 Años (Azafrán Media AP 2241, double CD, with gatefold minisleeve, 2022, recorded 2015)
Progressive
Greta Romero Silva (joint lead vocals, bass), Nohemí d’Rubín (joint lead vocals, bass), Rosa Flora Moreno (keyboards)
Iconclasta are a band who never fulfilled their early promise – their 1983 debut is their only album I’ve rated above a C+. This live retrospective, recorded in 2015 but released seven years later, isn’t going to change that. For sure, it contains nearly two hours of good prog, half fronted by Greta Romero Silva and half by Nohemí d’Rubín, but very little of it has that indefinable X-factor to take it to the next level. GRADE: C+.
ID Company (West Germany): ID Company (Hör Zu SHZE 801 BL, 1970)
Jazz/Folk/World Music/Avant-Garde
Dagmar Krause (joint lead vocals), Inga Rumpf (joint lead vocals, guitar)
This extremely unusual, highly creative album is probably the last thing anyone would have expected from these two City Preachers members while the parent band took an extended break from recording. Rather than collaborate, each singer took a side apiece and filled it with her own compositions (quite unusual for Krause, who hardly ever composed in her subsequent projects), whilst sharing a backing band. Rumpf’s side is quite experimental, blending elements of jazz, folk and Indian music, and even including a snatch of ‘Life Without Pain’ (which would reappear on Frumpy’s All Will Be Changed); it gives no hint of the heavier blues/rock direction that she would later pursue. Krause’s side is much closer to free jazz and the avant-garde, featuring electronically treated vocals and presaging the career in RIO she would pursue with Slapp Happy, Henry Cow and others. Following the album’s release, Rumpf split off with several other City Preachers members to form Frumpy whilst Krause returned to the band for a final album. GRADE: B–.
See also Art Bears, Atlantis, City Preachers, Frumpy, Henry Cow, Dagmar Krause, News From Babel, Rockship, Inga Rumpf, Slapp Happy
Iditarod (USA): The River Nektar (Hub City HC 003, with booklet, photograph, badge and plastic bag, 1998)
Folk/Psychedelic
Carin Wagner
This American duo’s debut is soft, gauzy acid-folk – all semi-whispered vocals over swirling soundscapes created with detuned guitars and occasional bass and drums. It’s all very American and very much of its era, with hints of everyone from Charalambides to Fern Knight, and with 13 songs in 30 minutes is a series of inconsequential, but sometimes quite diverting, vignettes. GRADE: C+.
Iditarod (USA): Yuletide (No label, CDR, 2001)
Folk/Psychedelic/Avant-Garde
Carin Wagner
The first instalment in Iditarod’s Christmas series is much more experimental than their debut album: when you listen to the first track, you may think you’ve put on an outtake from Nico’s The Marble Index. But whilst this is fascinatingly odd and unsettling stuff, what was cutting-edge in 1968 wasn’t 30 years later and the album betrays its influences perhaps a little too obviously. GRADE: C+.
Iditarod (USA): Kleine (Morc 26, cassette, Belgium, 2002)
Folk/Psychedelic/Avant-Garde
Carin Wagner (lead vocals, guitar, keyboards, autoharp)
Album number three falls midway between their first two, retaining the fragile beauty of their debut but adding in lots of experimental touches like their second. At its best this is truly beautiful and haunting – easily their finest work to date – but it’s also quite ponderous, with long ambient passages during which nothing much happens. Ultimately, whilst the experiments are frequently interesting, had it been a bit straighter it would probably have been a B–. GRADE: C+.
Iditarod (USA): The Ghost, The Elf, The Cat And The Angel (BlueSanct INRIO65, CD, 2002)
Folk/Psychedelic
Carin Wagner (principal vocals, guitar, synthesiser, percussion, tamboura), Petra Lienemann (occasional vocals, organ, glockenspiel, dulcimer, bouzouki), Margaret Ayre (cello)
With Fern Knight’s Margaret Ayre credited as a full member and Fit & Limo guesting on two songs, this is something of an acid-folk supergroup project. Whilst occasionally ponderous – seemingly an Iditarod trait – it’s a pretty super album too, with the various strands of their sound coming together to create a haunting and crystalline album. GRADE: B–.
Iditarod (USA): Yuletide (No label, CDR, 2002)
Folk/Psychedelic/Avant-Garde
Carin Wagner
Like the first instalment, this Christmas special mixes moments of extreme beauty (notably a lovely version of Pentangle’s ‘Watch The Stars’) with some avant-garde guitar excursions and sound effects. Whilst the balance is more towards the songs this time, I still find some of the weirdnesses a little self-conscious, though this is undeniably atmospheric and eerie. The bulk of both Yuletide CDRs were compiled, along with quite a number of bonus tracks, as a double CD also entitled Yuletide (Camera Obscura CAM06CD, Australia, 2003). GRADE: C+.
Iditarod & Sharron Kraus (USA): Yuletide (Elsie & Jack Recordings #014, CD, 2003)
Folk/Psychedelic/Avant-Garde
Carin Wagner (joint lead vocals, finger cymbals), Sharron Kraus (joint lead vocals, piano, clarinet, whistle)
The Iditarod’s final release seems them teaming up with fellow wyrd-folk practitioner Sharron Kraus to deliver a lovely set full of haunting, crystalline, wintery tunes. The more experimental elements are wisely kept in check this time around, resulting in an atmospheric and enveloping tapestry of sound that ebbs and flows. GRADE: B–.
Ie Rai Shan (Japan): Ie Rai Shan (Made In Japan MJC-1005, CD, with wallpaper wrap, 1994)
Progressive
Naomi Hodaka (lead vocals)
This is typically bombastic modern Japanese sympho-prog, with a style falling somewhere between Marge Litch and Teru’s Symphonia. It’s listenable enough but completely generic, without any really memorable melodies or riffs. As a footnote, this is an unusually packaged disc, with an outer paper wrap of wallpaper-like material around the jewel case. GRADE: C+.
Ie Rai Shan (Japan): Live At Muse (No label IRS-001, CD, 1999, recorded 1992)
Progressive
Naomi Hodaka (principal vocals)
Relased five years after their studio album but recorded a couple of years earlier, this live set has a similar sound (and appears to duplicate a fair amount of material). With good recording quality, this is a worthwhile purchase for anyone who likes eighties and nineties Japanese prog or indeed neoprogressive in general. Once again, the packaging is odd – this time the CD comes with a booklet but no tray card. GRADE: C+.
Ifsounds (Italy): Apeirophobia (Melodic Revolution, CD, USA, 2010)
Progressive
Elena Ricci (principal vocals)
This was the band’s fifth album, but their first with a female member. Most of the disc is taken up with the title suite, which has philosophical lyrics and varied musical backing, but there are also three shorter songs and an instrumental. This is a difficult album to describe, with a few hard rock touches, slight (but only slight) Pink Floyd references and good Spanish guitar and piano sections amid melodic symphonic rock that gives no hints of its Italian origins. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the heavily accented vocals. GRADE: C+.
Ifsounds (Italy): Red Apple (Melodic Revolution MRR CD 22010, CD, USA, 2012)
Progressive
Federica Berchicchi (principal vocals), Andrea Garrison (occasional vocals)
This concept album (with guest Andrea Garrison providing the linking narrative as a radio DJ) is all over the place, from folky numbers to heavy rock, Queen-like majestic harmonies, piano solos, improvised jazz passages and even a recurring instrumental theme that puts me in mind of George Formby. The results are mildly interesting but not at all coherent, and once again the English pronunciation is sometimes woeful. GRADE: C+.
Ihre Kinder (West Germany): …Ihre Kinder (Philips 844 393 PY, 1969)
Pop/Psychedelic
Judith Brigger (joint lead vocals, percussion)
This German band issued a number of albums, but this was their only release with a female member. It’s pleasant folkish pop with a psychedelic edge and some good fuzz guitar and flute work, sounding a year or two earlier than its release date. GRADE: C+.
Chris Kando Iijima, Joanne Nobuko Miyamoto & Charlie Chin (USA): A Grain Of Sand – Music For The Struggle By Asians In America (Paredon P-1020, some on yellow vinyl, with booklet, 1973)
Folk/Rock
Joanne Nobuko Miyamoto (joint lead vocals, maracas)
This interesting album, whose title is self-explanatory, features wholly self-penned music that has one foot in the coffeehouse and the other in the hippie movement. With backing from acoustic guitars and hand percussion, the trio offer some lovely jazzy folk grooves with a haunting, wistful flavour. GRADE: C+.
Iliad (USA): Sapphire House (Northern Lights NL 6178, 1978)
Jazz/Rock/Progressive
Nancy Eastman (lead vocals)
This all-male instrumental trio (plus guests, including a female singer who contributes wordless vocals to two cuts) took many of their cues from the Canterbury scene (as side one’s closer ‘Canterbury’ suggests). However, this has none of the playfulness of the Canterbury bands, offering a cross-section of jazz, classical and progressive styles to highlight the musicians’ prowess (and in particular that of the keyboardist). Consequently, it’s a difficult album to review and grade: superbly put together, frequently breathtaking in its musicianship and packed with great riffs and tunes, but sometimes bland and uninspired, and with a rather detached, academic feel throughout. GRADE: B–.
Ill Wicker (Sweden: Under Diana (Electricity ELPS-202, 2014)
Folk/Psychedelia
Thea Åslund, Emma Lagerberg
The ‘Diana’ in the title is not accidental: this band’s favourite album is clearly Comus’s First Utterance, and their own LP is largely a remarkably faithful pastiche of it. However, where First Utterance was frequently ferocious and angry, Under Diana has a more relaxed, though still very eerie, feel, incorporating influences from other psychedelic and progressive folk acts (most notably the Incredible String Band). Though obviously derivative, it’s very well done and certainly worth hearing. GRADE: B–.
Ill Wicker (Sweden): Untamed (The Sign CRC004, CD, with digipak and download card, 2015)
Folk/Psychedelic
Thea Åslund (joint lead vocals, violin, viola), Emma Lagerberg (joint lead vocals, organ, glockenspiel, violin)
A little more of their own personality shows through here, but once again there’s no doubt how much they love First Utterance: they even copy some of the vocal arrangements down to a tee. This is good stuff – very good indeed, in fact – but it’s curious to hear one band so obviously influenced by another outside the incestuous worlds of zeuhl and RIO. GRADE: B–.
Ill Wind (USA): Flashes (ABC S-641, 1968)
Psychedelic
Conny Devanney (joint lead vocals)
With its melodic and slightly hypnotic sound, this has long been a favourite among psych collectors. The rich harmony vocals on some cuts resemble the Mamas & The Papas, while the musical backing is sometimes similar to early Jefferson Airplane. A couple of songs are rather throwaway, but the numerous highpoints include ‘People Of The Night’ (with a lengthy instrumental section full of strong acid guitar), the haunting, folky ‘Dark World’, and the heavy, sinister ‘LAPD’. GRADE: B–.
Illiterate Beach (USA): No Polyester Please… (Susstones IML 518, 1987)
Psychedelic
Maria Menolasino (joint lead vocals, guitar, violin)
This enjoyable six-track mini-album essentially refracts early Jefferson Airplane through an eighties indie prism, with a jangly guitar-based sound that should appeal to fans of acts like REM. Most of the material is self-penned, but the sole cover (‘High Flyin’ Bird’) once again confirms their Airplane fixation. Quite simply, psychedelic revivalism doesn’t come much better than this, so it’s a pity they didn’t release a full LP. GRADE: B–.
Illuminae (UK/Poland): Dark Horizons (Immrama ILUCD001, USB card, with digipak, UK, 2021)
Progressive
Agniezka Świta (lead vocals)
You won’t need to read the credits to work out that Illuminae’s mainman is Karnataka’s Ian Jones – it’s obvious from the first few minutes. For better and worse, this is a hybrid of Karnataka styles, from the Celtic atmospheres of their earlier work to the hard rock stylings of their later albums, all given epic dimensions with guest appearances from Steve Hackett, Ian Helliwell and (of course) Troy Donockley. Like Karnataka, it’s melodic and uplifting, with rich melodies and swelling symphonic arrangements. But also like Karnataka, it’s a synthesis of its influences rather than an inventive fusion, and it’s all a bit too polished and soulless. In an unusual move, the band issued the album as a USB card, containing 24-bit versions in WAV, FLAC and MP3, plus an excellent promo video and some photographs and desktop wallpapers. GRADE: C+.
See also Caamora, Clive Nolan, Agnieszka Świta
Illumion (Holland): Hunting For Significance (Progess PRCD 034, CD, Sweden, 2009)
Metal
Esther Ladiges (lead vocals, percussion, flute), Eveline van Kampen (guitar, erhu), Eveline Simons (keyboards)
With clear influences from both King Crimson and Rush, this mostly female band (only the rhythm section were male) offer a dense symphonic hard rock LP. Although quite atmospheric and with a few fine riffs, it’s often quite messy and decidedly lacking in the songwriting department. At its worst, it recalls weaker, similar outfits like Leger De Main, but even at its best it’s fairly unremarkable, with only a few Oriental and Arabic moments really standing out. GRADE: C.
Illumion (Holland): The Waves (Freia ZEUS 2LP, double LP plus CD, with inners and minisleeve, 2012)
Metal
Esther Ladiges (principal vocals, percussion) Eveline van Kampen (guitar, mandolin, violin, backing vocals)
This double album is beautifully packaged, with a gatefold sleeve and two inners, plus a bonus CD (featuring the first three sides) in its own minisleeve. However, I still find their jazzy, mildly proggy, brand of metal rather uninteresting, and once again the songwriting is nothing special. GRADE: C.
Illusion (UK): Out Of The Mist (Island ILPS 9489, 1977)
Progressive
Jane Relf (joint lead vocals)
This is basically the first incarnation of Renaissance minus Keith Relf, who was planning to be involved but tragically died in 1976. Comparing it to the contemporary work of the Annie Haslam-fronted version, this is more robust and rocking but also a lot less ambitious, often coming close to mainstream soft rock. It’s a decent album throughout, with the heavier ‘Solo Flight’ providing a welcome change of mood, but only really takes off with the last two cuts: a remake of ‘Face Of Yesterday’ (from the Renaissance Illusion album) and the superb ‘Candles Are Burning’, which demonstrates the level of intensity they could achieve when they really tried. GRADE: C+.
Illusion (UK): Illusion (Island ILPS 9519, 1978)
Progressive
Jane Relf (joint lead vocals)
Album number two is a big step up, opening with their finest number ‘Madonna Blue’. Slow, majestic and wonderfully melodic, the cut climaxes in a marvellous instrumental coda with a long, impassioned guitar solo. The disc never reaches the same heights again, but it’s a good record throughout, with the metronomic, mid-paced ‘Cruising Nowhere’ building up quite a head of steam and ‘The Revolutionary’ providing a great closer. GRADE: B–.
Illusion (UK): Enchanted Caress (Promised Land 92152, CD, 1990, recorded 1979)
Folk/Rock
Jane Relf (joint lead vocals)
The sleevenotes claim Illusion to be ‘quite simply the Beatles of progressive rock’; it’s a ridiculous statement, but this collection of demos for their proposed third album is pleasant enough. The quality of the material here suggests that, had these songs been worked up with some extended instrumental passages and progressive motifs (of which there are none here), this could easily have equalled its predecessor. The eight short songs are rounded off by a solo instrumental from guitarist John Knightsbridge (provenance unknown) and Keith Relf’s much-compiled final recording ‘All The Falling Angels’. The band subsequently mutated into the more new age-oriented Stairway. GRADE: C+.
See also Renaissance, Renaissance Illusion, Pilgrim, Stairway
Illusions (UK): Illusions (Zella LPS 405, with booklet, 1983)
Pop/Rock
Sonja Elsworth (joint lead vocals), Patsy Sweeney (occasional vocals), Geather Dolan (ocasional vocals), Linda Donnell (occasional cocals), geraldine Milnes (synthesiser)
Unlike most school project albums, this rock opera about a Victorian strike at a match factory isn’t particularly folky: on the contrary, it’s rooted in mainstream pop/rock, with some assertive lead guitar, a few wave-ish touches from saxophone and lots of progressive twists and turns. Like most school rock operas, the music sometimes feels secondary to the lyrics, but there are plenty of good tunes here, adding up to an appealing album with that typical school project naïveté and charm. GRADE: C+.
