BORIS

Although the music of YEZDA URFA is often cited as a mixture of Yes and Gentle Giant, it is in fact unique and sounds like nothing else. Yes, it has the complexity of Yes complete with classically driven riffs here and there and the amazingly eclectic diversity that Gentle Giant took on, but YEZDA URFA proves on this debut demo BORIS that they absolutely had it all together as they can take you on the most frenetic progressive journey at breakneck speeds with amazing crazy time signatures and interplay and then in a flash turn the song into a melodic folk rock song that is catchier than any 70s pop rock and then back again to the amazing musicianship of a prog freak out.

This is simply a horribly underrated and unknown band that more than deserves to finally have its music basking in the sun for more than a fleeting moment. I can understand why this may have been a little over-ambitious in 1975 as prog was waning around then and although complex albums had been more popular a few years before this was complex even by those standards. The keyboard runs are so fast that it is hard to even follow them at times. The drumming and guitars always have a strange tension like they're ready to fall into complete dissonance but they always resolve themselves at the oddest of times and then the band itself will come together and make it seem like you just had a very strange dream. The best analogy I can think of is if you were in an airplane and suddenly went into freefall for a while and then at once everything was normal leaving you with a heightened sense of awareness and dismay of what you have just encountered.

Not only is YEZDA URFA talented beyond belief but they added a further distinction to their identity by incorporating the strangely-out-of-place-yet-still-works-somehow bluegrass track "Texas Armadillo." I am hooked on this stuff and can only imagine the music they could have churned out if they had been given the opportunity to display in full regalia all their musical tricks up their sleeves throughout the course of several albums. It wasn't meant to be but at least this and the one other album SACRED BABOON are still around for us to enjoy.

I have the newer remastered version which has a bonus track titled "The Basis of Dubenglazy While Dirk Does the Dance" which at 9:51 not only adds an extra 10 minutes to the listening pleasure but feels like it was meant to be part of the original album. This particular bonus track does have a lot more Gentle Giant influence but it is done so very, very well that I don't care! It is just that good. I simply cannot praise this album enough for it delivers all the goods throughout its entire run and leaves me wanting MORE!!!