FIELDS

What a lovely surprise this album was. I can't believe I never heard it before. I wouldn't claim it's among my personal top 20 favorites of all time, but in my book every serious prog fan should have this album. The best parts are downright brilliant, the weakest parts are not at all bad. First of all i love the sound quality and the tightness of the band's playing. It's a very clean and clever production. It has some very nice melodic qualities about it. Fat and playful organ, wonderful vocals, dynamic bass and the drummer McCullogh is all over the place. He was the only member of this band that I was already familiar with, being a fan of Greenslade as well. Very innovative and exciting drummer he was. My favorite tracks would be the opening "A Friend of Mine" and "Over and over again". On the less strong side I would pick out "Slow Susan" and "Fair-Haired Lady". They are not bad, but yet still not quite up there to me. I must admit I was a bit skeptic when I first saw the line-up. Organ, drums and a singing bass player....now where have I heard that before? Well, I don't think they sound anything like ELP. Not that ELP is a bad thing to clone, I adore them to pieces, but I prefer to listen to something a bit more original and Fields did their own thing and I really fell for it. This album is just very good. Buy it and listen to it.