DRUID

A conundrum of a band/album. And apologies for parochial UK references. I think they won a battle of the bands contest run by a top UK music paper, Melody Maker maybe, and the prize was the album deal and Bob Harris to produce. This of course got them a slot on the Old Grey Whistle Test on tv where I first saw/heard them (ok, ok am older than you!). They sort of looked and sounded the part but even for late '75/early '76 it was a part and sound that you felt had then had its day (you would have laughed your cheesecloth shirt off is someone said you could be reviewing this nearly 50 years later). Couldn't back then and can't even now put my finger on why it does/should/doesn't work. They wear their main influence on their sleeve...or they would if Roger Dean had designed the album cover...but didn't quite have the chops and voice/s to carry them off convincingly. It was a little too polite in a tongue stuck out of the mouth concentrating very hard to 'get it right' way. There is nothing wrong with a bit of gentle (dwarf?) on an album (Dawn of Evening) but again some attack and power is appreciated as a contrast. They don't do anything wrong but don't have a sound of their own either. It wasn't their fault that time was about to pass them and the genre by although they are responsible for the shoulder shrug of a follow up album that I am astonished I still give house room to. Yes, if you like Yes you will appreciate this. No, you wont find anything out of the ordinary or close(r) to edgy about it either. As solid as a 2.9 star rating can be.

The music is pretty and the band sounds exactly like classic Yes. The album cover is in the vein of roger dean the bassist, the guitarist the vocalist, honestly everything on this album sounds like Yes. This is literally a lost Yes album.

The first song cuts right to the chase, organ and a guitar line a la Yes? The singing eventually comes in and the dude sounds like Anderson, it's a nice voice and the melody is nice. An alright song, the opening could have been shorter same with the ending.

Track two has lovely acoustic guitar mellotron and singing to make a pastoral song. The song eventually picks up and the singing becomes unnecessary/bad. This soon passes and the song heads to acoustic guitar plus lalalalas then electric guitar solo. This song feels a bit disorganized, could use some trimming.

Track three opens with guitar that rambles a bit before becoming a surprise jazz section, nice. The guitar then comes back and the song continues with guitar/pads/drums/bass till the song ends. Like the previous tracks it's okay, needlessly long though.

Track four has a different tone to its guitar opening, sounding like the Rolling Stones on a chill song circa 1970. Lalas eventually come to change the songs direction to symphonic. I like the opening.

Track five is the shortest song at 3:24 and opens with piano. Yes, it is a ballad. The piano fades, and super calm singing begins over the synth pad sound. The song then ends.

Track six is a big one. Starting with a strong riff? This song has a good opening full of successful buildup. Then a strong guitar solo that fits the background well comes to up the ante. Singing then comes, powered by bass. After this section comes a cool mellow Ron interlude that introduces a new vocal section that is neat, very intimate (dudes actually a good singer). A neat acoustic guitar interlude allows for a spacey section to become a brief closing guitar solo over happy wind support. A good song.

Track seven follows in the mold of six with acoustic guitar and mellotron for the first sections plus singing. Most of the singing here is beautiful. In the middle somewhere is a guitar solo and the song ends with classical esque drumming. This is a lovely track with an infectious happiness.

Overall this is a solid album, definitely completely unoriginal but hey, the music is still nice.

Review Nº 400

"Toward The Sun/Fluid Druid" is a very special compilation album of Druid. It's an economic package that includes their two studio albums "Toward The Sun" released in 1975 and "Fluid Druid" released in 1976, on only one CD. This is a very interesting compilation because it includes the only two albums of Druid, what will be a very interesting purchase.

The career of the British band Druid began very promising, really, after they had won a young talent competition of the magazine Melody Maker. Shortly thereafter, they were on the front page of this music magazine. In addition to the prize money of £ 500 won by them, this sense of achievement helped the band sign up for EMI. Thus, formally the starting position for Druid as a young band in the field of the progressive rock music was conceivably favorable. So, in 1975, their debut studio album "Toward The Sun" was presented to the public in a release party. Unfortunately, the fact that Druid won the competition by Melody Maker proved that was almost a drawback, as the rest of the music press and some radio stations considered Druid more or less as a pupil of a large magazine and a protégé of a large record label.

Druid is comparable to their compatriots Yes. Sometimes, they were even considered a pure clone of them. In fact, the guitarist and singer Dane has a distinctive falsetto voice. For the most part, he sings even higher than Jon Anderson, whose vocal qualities he doesn't achieve, really. The striking bass by Neil Brewer is obviously inspired by Chris Squire.

As I've already reviewed these two albums previously on Progarchives, in a more extensive way, I'm not going to do it again. So, if you are interested to know, in more detail, what I wrote about them before, I invite you to read those my both reviews. However, in here, I'm going to write something about them in a more short way. So, of course, I'm not going to analyze them track by track, as I made before, but I'm only going to make a global appreciation of both albums.

"Toward The Sun": In my humble opinion, all in all, "Toward The Sun" is a very nice symphonic progressive rock album from the 70's. If you don't have any problem with high vocals and don't deny the right to live in the beautiful tunes of the progressive rock, but above all, if you have no problems with the strong Yes' influence on Druid, "Toward The Sun" could be a real pleasure to listen to. Their music often sounds like a softer and more folk- influenced version of Yes, but their nice, very accomplished and atmospheric sound made up for some of it. Druid belongs somehow to the same league as England and Starcastle. With this album which is dreamy, nostalgic and sad-beautiful, Druid proves an incredible sense of tune that touches. Maybe it's not as original as it should be and it's perhaps a little derivative in places. Still, I like it very much and I really think that it deserves to be heard. Anyone who considers Yes among his favourites and not only expects the band to perform works like "Close To The Edge" or "Gates Of Delirium", should definitely have Druid tested it. Druid proves an incredible sense of tune that touches. It's highly recommended, really.

"Fluid Druid": "Fluid Druid" is a much recommended album, very melodic and beautiful, and a must for all Yes' fans. I think the song writing on "Fluid/Druid" is more varied than on their first one, "Toward The Sun". There's less Mellotron and falsetto-vocals in the arrangements this time, but they managed to keep the warmth and atmosphere in their sound. For me, the last tracks on "Fluid Druid" give me the impression that Druid was desperately searching for their own identity. Thus, the second side of the former LP it seems to me a bit inexperienced. And because of that, despite the album contains some really great tracks the final result isn't very well balanced, really. Although despite some changes on this album, they weren't so terribly drastic. It represents a decent symphonic prog album. If you like the first album, you'll probably like the second one too, but maybe a little less. It's clear that those guys did know how to play their instruments. But their effort to sound different and original didn't succeed here. No track is moving enough to be memorable, really. If you're a devoted fan of symphonic progressive rock fan, I'd suggest starting with "Toward The Sun" and then proceeding to this album if you're eager for more. This album is more limited than many of Yes' albums.

Conclusion: If you like Yes Druid is a nice band to check. Despite the lack of some originality, this English band hasn't got anything to envy to the Masters. The melodies are fantastic, the arrangements are full of dreamy Mellotron layers and the singer has a pleasant high pitched voice and uses it in a tasty way. We have also lots of Rickenbacker from the bass player and a melodic playing from the guitarist. This is particularly evident on "Toward The Sun". Not quite as enjoyable as their debut, "Fluid Druid" is a less pleasant follow-up. Perhaps stung by the "Yes Clones" accusations, the band this time has tried to aim for a more original sounding collection. This they achieved somehow, but the overall effect is less rewarding than its predecessor. Too bad they didn't have recorded any more albums. They had shown some maturing song writing and a third album would probably been even better if everything had gone in the right way.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

I've gotta be frank here, folks: if I didn't love the bass guitar so much, and if Neil Brewer didn't play it like a Chris Squire copycat, I probably wouldn't listen to Druid much anymore. Too much of the music is uninspired, unoriginal, or not exciting.

When Dane Stephens sings a bit lower (i.e. in his normal vocal range), he sounds quite a lot like Jon Anderson. Unfortunately, he occasionally causes me to wince when he sings in a screechy falsetto voice, especially on a few songs from the first album. And any harmonies are dubbed by Dane himself, so you don't get the rich harmonic vocals that some other prog groups can produce. His guitar playing is adequate, but not remarkable.

Ditto for the keyboard player, Andrew McCrorie-Shand. Not a lot of soloing prowess is exhibited, though he handles the keys adequately in an early-period Yes Tony Kaye sort of way. I do think the drumming (by Cedric Sharpley) is very good, and the bass playing is (as I've already noted) quite entertaining in places.

The comparisons to Yes can hardly be overlooked. But this is a little more acoustic, and a bit less challenging - almost "nice". Overall the music is not nearly as dynamic or complex as peak Yes, thus my "Yes-lite" tag. Some reviewers seem to view the band as underappreciated or unlucky; I actually think the band is VERY lucky - they seem to have been little more than a good prog cover band that got the chance to record two albums. That's more than many proggers were able to accomplish back in the late 1970's.

Still, there are some very good moments here. I enjoy the first parts of both albums more than the second halves for some reason? "Voices", "Remembering", "Theme", "Razor Truth", "FM 145", and "Crusade" are all pretty enjoyable tunes. The second half of "Fluid Druid" is mostly dreck.

There just wasn't enough original and interesting new stuff here for the Yes lover among us prog fans. Another group to which I see them frequently compared is Starcastle, whose first two albums are CLEARLY head and shoulders above these two albums.

So, this music is good - not great - and certainly enjoyable and listenable in general. But I do find it lacking in originality. For a look at Druid contemporaries that did it RIGHT in the late 70's, check out unique groups like England, Cathedral, Cherry Five - or even the American group Yezda Urfa.

"Nice" music just doesn't fit into the top of my preference list...

Review Nº 275

Druid was a 70's progressive rock band from England. The career of the band began very promising, after they had won a young talent competition of the magazine Melody Maker. Shortly thereafter, they were on the front page of that music magazine. In addition to the prize money of 500 pounds, this sense of achievement helped the band to a record deal with EMI. Thus, formally the starting position for Druid as a young band from the field of progressive rock was very favourable indeed. In 1975, their debut studio album 'Toward The Sun' was presented to the public in a release party. But, unfortunately, the fact that Druid won the competition was curiously almost a drawback, as the rest of the music press and some radio stations considered the band more or less as a pupil of a large magazine and a large record label.

Musically, Druid is comparable to their compatriots Yes, and sometimes is even charged as a pure clone. Guitarist and singer Dane has a distinctive falsetto voice. For the most part, he sings even higher than Jon Anderson, whose vocal qualities he doesn't achieve. The striking bass by Neil Brewer is obviously inspired by Chris Squire. With the release of their second studio album 'Fluid Druid' in 1976, the band distanced themselves from their first production and Melody Maker connections. As it couldn't make up for the weaker material on their sophomore effort, the band finally gave up.

The songwriting on 'Fluid Druid' is more varied than on 'Toward The Sun' and less Yes oriented, as if they wanted to find their own way. Druid had developed stylistically in search of more autonomy. It was apparently the concern of the band to bring their compositions to the point, without neglecting the symphonic note. This endeavor is partially exemplary succeeded. Still, they managed to keep the warmth and atmosphere in their sound. The use of the Mellotron was withdrawn compared to their debut. The guitar playing has become more variable and expresses its own stamp on the more compact compositions. It harmonizes well with the again crisp bass runs. With a few exceptions, the vocals no longer move in the dizzying heights of the first work. There's less falsetto-vocals on the arrangements in this time.

'Fluid druid' is the second album of Druid and was released in 1976. The line up on the album is Dane Stevens (vocals and guitars), Andrew McCrorie-Shand (keyboards), Neil Brewer (bass) and Cedric Sharpley (drums and percussion).

'Fluid Druid' has nine tracks. The first track 'Razor Truth' is a melancholic opener to the album. Yes' influence is easy to recognize. This is a good rocking track with a strange quiet interlude in the middle and with some pretty good lyrics as well. On the second track 'Painters Clouds' reins the acoustic presence, the bass heavily heavy and present, a true 'stone'. The Mellotron holds down the background here. Dane's romantic voice brings life and a nice guitar solo ends it gracefully. The third track 'FM 145' is an energetic instrumental track. It shows the first break from the Druid sound to date with a decidedly synthesized sound. The tone that Neil takes from the bass is great, but Cedric's drums, Andrew's keyboards and Dani's guitar are also great. The fourth track 'Crusade' has a song structure quite interesting. It starts with a fast track and a vocal with a heavy accent. The following melody is beautiful and carries peace in your notes. The second part of the song is instrumental and carries the 'weight' of classical training, including organ and chorus. The fifth track 'Nothing But Morning' is basically a harmless ballad, giving to Dane the chance to dizzy heights. In the dynamic middle a part of Yes let greet again. Packed by a melody on the piano the voice carries beauty and the sequence in any theme is carried by a strong atmosphere. The sixth track 'Barnaby' is considered the most unusual composition of Druid. It's a quite funny surprise with its ska/funk influences and differs completely from everything else they did before. The seventh track 'Kestrel' is a short and nice song, with the synth play briefly reminiscent of 'Gates Of Delirium', but not at all so fits into the overall concept of this short song. It's a more acoustic and Renaissance side of the band. The eighth track 'Left To Find' presents a dreamy facet of the band. A romantic piano playing in combination with a majestic guitar, determine the mainly instrumental character of this song. After quiet vocal lines in the middle section, romantic flute play brings the title to a close. The ninth track 'The Fisherman's Friend' is nothing more than a joke with a fast keyboard theme and vocals throughout the short song. It closes the album in a nice way.

Conclusion: For me, the last tracks on 'Fluid Druid' give me the impression that Druid was desperately searching for their own identity. Thus, the second side of the former LP it seems to me a bit inexperienced. And because of that, despite the album contains some really great tracks the final result isn't very well balanced, really. Although despite some changes on this album, they weren't so terribly drastic. It represents a decent symphonic prog album. If you like the first album, you'll probably like the second one too, but maybe a little less. If you're a devoted fan of symphonic progressive rock fan, I'd suggest starting with 'Toward The Sun' and then proceeding to this album if you're eager for more. But if you buy the double CD of the two albums in only one package, it represents an excellent value certainly.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Review Nº 274

As happened with some many other prog bands in the 70's, Druid is no more than another one relatively obscure progressive band from the 70's with a very short life. And also as happened with some many of their contemporaries, they were also strongly influenced by some of the major prog acts in those days. In this case, the sound of Druid was notably influenced by Yes. That influence became so evident that they were even accused to be a true clone of Yes.

So, Druid was a 70's progressive rock band from England. Formed in 1971 by the old schoolmates Dane Stevens and Cedric Sharpley, along with the local bass player Neil Brewer, Druid spent years playing in clubs as a trio before winning a competition by Melody Maker. At this point they added Andrew McCrorie-Shand, a recent London College of Music graduate. The Melody Maker prize included new instruments and a recording contract, and their eponymous debut album appeared in 1975. The band had a difficult time due to Yes' soundalikes. In fact, Druid was an opening act at a number of Yes' concerts. The Yes comparison, though an obvious one, isn't entirely accurate. While Dane's vocals are clearly styled after Jon Anderson and Neil Brewer's bass has the classic pick-driven Rickenbacker associated with Chris Squire, the rest of the band departs from that formula. McCrorie-Shand's unadorned keyboard parts, for example, have little in common with the lavishly baroque flash of Rick Wakeman or the martial Hammond pounding of Tony Kaye.

Druid had excellent instrumental skills and all the right moves for a symphonic progressive rock band, like swirling Mellotron and organ, sweeping tasty analogue synths, thundering Rickenbacker bass and some of the highest falsetto vocals ever heard from a progressive rock band. Their music often sounded like a softer and more folk influenced version of Yes. Their song writing, which isn't really as good as the song writing of Yes, was very decent and I feel very comfortable with it. But, above all, their nice very accomplished and atmospheric sound made up for some of it, surely.

'Toward The Sun' is the debut studio album of Druid and was released in 1975. The line up on the album is Dane Stevens (vocals and guitars), Andrew McCrorie-Shand (keyboards), Neil Brewer (bass) and Cedric Sharpley (drums). 'Toward The Sun' has seven tracks. The first track 'Voices' is a perfect opener for the album which goes after a dynamic and Yes' intro into a melodic section, which is dominated by the melancholy vocals of their front man Dane. It contains some downright smoking instrumental sections, though it's probably the most complicated playing that Druid ever did. The second track 'Remembering' offers almost sugar sweet vocal harmonies. Here we have again some delicate Mellotron passages recorded. It builds slowly and beautifully with some more amazing and slow leads towards the end. The third track 'Theme' unites as an instrumental title all already mentioned the qualities of the band. It's based around rather nondescript melody and jam section, but is a very enjoyable piece, nonetheless. The guitar playing is very melodic and is in no way comparable with the filigree string processing of Steve Howe. The fourth track is the title track. It nicely blends. The parts are so nicely layered here that you must like it, if you just love beautiful music. Yes, the Mellotron is truly ubiquitous with Druid, as happen with the title track. Therefore, with 'Toward The Sun' every Mellotron fan can feel it in his heart. The fifth track 'Red Carpet For An Autumn' is a very short piece based on a simple but haunting sequence on piano with some great singing. It's a very nice feather in the cap, just a nice solo piano melody for a bit until the vocal and Mellotron pick it up. The sixth track 'Dawn Of Evening' has a beautifully positioned Mellotron carpet that creates a magical atmosphere and the rumbling bass provides the right dynamics. It's another strong piece which takes a clever but understated chord sequence that starts out quietly and unnoticeably but builds into something quite intense. The second half of the track is a little less interesting though. The seventh track 'Shangri-La' distinguishes itself as one of the best. There's 3-4 minute of strength at the end of that track where the band finally stumbles upon a few genuinely catchy progressions. It's a pleasant and ambitious piece that ends the album nicely.

Conclusion: In my humble opinion and all in all, 'Toward The Sun' is a very nice symphonic progressive rock album from the 70's. If you don't have any problem with high vocals and don't deny the right to live in the beautiful tunes of the progressive rock, but above all, if you have no problems with the strong Yes' influence on Druid, 'Toward The Sun' could be a real pleasure to listen to. Druid belongs somehow to the same league as England and Starcastle. With this album which is dreamy, nostalgic and sad-beautiful, Druid proves an incredible sense of tune that touches. Maybe it's not as original as it should be and it's perhaps a little derivative in places. Still, I like it very much and I really think that it deserves to be heard. Anyone who considers Yes among his favourites and not only expects the band to perform works like 'Close To The Edge' or 'Gates Of Delirium', should definitely have Druid tested it. It's highly recommended.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

I've just discovered this band, thanks to David Silly Puppy and a YouTube suggestion link. I'm impressed. The Yes similarities are obvious but this album leaves me wondering, "Did every band who ended up sounding like Yes or Genesis intend to come out that way?" Something here makes me answer, "no." The folk-like use of sound and space, the unusual and impressive poetic pronunciation of the singer, the constructs are not quite as classical or hard rock in their outcomes. Classic rock, psychedelia, folk, and even early Styx and Rush and Narada Michael Walden/Nova come to mind. I like the vocal arrangements and sounds more than any of the above (though I find it remarkable that they're all performed by male voices.) A truly enjoyable find that I will without doubt enjoy coming to know more intimately. Nice sound engineering and production throughout. Nobody trying to impress me with their egos, just nice, solid, cohesive, beautifully-constructed songs.

Favorite songs: 1. "Voices" (8:14) (8.5/10); 2. "Remembering" (5:24) (8.5/10); 3. "Theme" (5:26) (9/10) and the title song (5:08) (9/10).

Does cloning Yes well make a good album?

Well if we take that "well" part, then you must be. Having the ability to play so similarly to such an eclectic and talented band must mean you have a certain share in that talent. This is the case for the 70's symphonic rock band Druid, and their debut Toward The Sun in 1975.

This album is undoubtedly influenced by Yes, who was a very prominent example of progressive music, especially during the 70's. But no matter how eclectic or dynamic Yes was, they still followed a formula, and that formula could be done by other bands. Many are quick to juxtapose many symphonic prog bands with Yes, but it's really only true in obvious examples. Toward The Sun is one of these examples. Everything from 'Dane''s high pitched, ultra soprano vocals to Neil Brewers thumping Squire-inspired bass. One thing I do have to give to Druid is that their percussionist, Cedric Sharpley, is fantastic. His abilities hold a candle to both Bill Bruford and Alan White with his talents.

Don't simply shrug this off as just a Yes clone just yet, because there's a deluge of other influences Druid takes in other than them. Dane has certain moments where during his self-harmonizations sounds oddly like Crosby Stills Nash and Young of all bands, most prominently on 'Remembering'. With this is an admitted folk undertone, no matter how vague and poorly executed it is. Some jazz influences that hopefully become more prevalent with their followup Fluid Druid (1976) that are done pretty well, as Druid sort of deals with this genre of symphonic jazz rock, a genre so strange that I wouldn't mind seeing more often.

Okay, I have to come clean. This album is not easy to review. At all. If you've heard Yes enough you've come to understand and accept their formula: overly complex drumming, long winded choral-like guitars, and high airy vocals. Many bands did copy this concept, but the worst ones were the ones in the 70's, where there was no newer technology present where they could tinker with the idea in any unique way, and were simply stuck to just playing the same thing. Druid, or rather Toward the Sun is one of these 70's rehash. I'll say it now and in the future; if I want to listen to Yes symphonic prog, I'll listen to Yes. There's no other reason to listen to a practical trudge through the same concepts as the band except with a lack of creativity.

In conclusion, the album isn't the best. I would go so far as to say it's one of the less interesting albums of the 1975 when it comes to symphonic rock, hell, progressive rock in general. Listen if you must.

2.5 rounded to 2.

3.5 for sure

Druid was one of the promising bands from mid '70's manageing to release ony two albums and then gone almost unnoticed. The re issue of both album by Beat Goes On in 1995 is good aqusition if you want to have both albums in one packaging.

First album rleased in 1975 named Toward the sun is a good one, with heavy prog moments combined with like Yes arppegios and passages. The voice of Dane shows a great potential somehow forgotten vocalist when we talk about great ones of the '70's. The albums is pretty varied in compostions, from opening heavy prog pieces Voices where the guitar has an importan trole, very strong arrangements on this one, to the last piece Druid make some intristing music here to much time underrated in my opinion. Yes influenced but without that lenghty parts Yes were famous for. Good album , like the druming and the re issue has a crystal sound. 3.5 for this one.

Secod album released one year later in 1976 Fluid to me is their best, even agaian is very low rated and totaly forgotten album from british school. Keeping the same attitude of the previous album, this time Druid manage to come with more intristing ideas , some of the highlights to me are the instrumental a short one FM 145, great piece, Crusade and Kestrel, nice passages, good voice , clean good album. A sincere band that I've always like, maybe they beggin their career quite to late, when the second album apper , the british scene was already preparing for the punk machine to take over the whole market, and for that matter they were restraind to close the chapter to soon disbanding in fall of the 1976 after quite promising first two albums. Aagain 3.5 stars for Druid fluid

Druid evidently decided to craft a more distinctive sound for themselves after the Yes worship of Toward the Sun - a good idea with one vital flaw, namely that they don't seem to have much idea of what they want to change their sound to! With a few bits and pieces of Yes imitation cluttering up the place, the band also try their hand at jazz fusion a little (unconvincingly) and on one track (Barnaby) try their hand at a bit of ska in the vein of The Specials or Madness - a musical direction which might have seen them survive the onslaught of punk, were it not for the fact that the song is a completely incompetent jab at the genre.

Fluid Druid is 40 minutes of the sound of sheer panic setting in, as the band remove the safety net only to find that, at the end of the day, they just aren't ready to move out the shadow of the topographic oceaneers.. Two stars.