IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY

A true Proto-Prog masterpiece! Not really sure whether this band or album was greatly influential to Prog or just happened to be flooded through the roof with Prog elements and overlooked? Anyway if I were to consider a band to truely fit the category of Proto-Prog no questions asked It's a Beautiful Day would definitely be a top 3-5 or at least in that order that appears to my mind first along with acts such as Procol Harum, Family, The Nice, etc.

Consider yourself fortunate if you actually own an original or even legal copy of this album which has been incredibly difficult over many years now. Only being familiar with the radio classic Whitebird I checked this out at a local library years ago only to be completely blown away.

Not at all your typical West Coast Hippie Drug Psychedelia album. Sure you might hear hints of early Blues Rock and some Quicksilver Messenger Service but other than that this album really takes Progressive Rock by storm. The violin solos and professional operatic vocals even surpass many Prog albums. This band really sets high standards. David LaFlamme who played in the Utah Symphony previously also sounds very professional with his operatic vocals. This album was full of surprises when I first discovered listening to it over 20 years ago.

It's funny how operatic vocals have become a prominent part of Progressive Metal many years later. I have also often wondered if the violin and guitar combination influenced musicians such as Luc Jean Ponty and Eddie Jobson on Roxy Music and UK albums. Did it influence Kansas, Dixie Dregs, Mahavishnu, King Crimson with David Cross? So many unanswered questions I have about this most obscure jem that is in many ways light years ahead of it's time and should be mentioned among the most important Proto-Prog albums ever recorded.