GARDEN SHED

Well,it's very difficult to rate an album if you are between 3 or 4 stars...It's a big difference to decide whether an album is simply good or a must-have for every prog fan...The album starts with a great track, ''Midnight Madness'',you think it is a song written by GENESIS in their golden 70'-75' era...The second track is a piano intro quite similar to QUEEN's sound...And we head for the first epic, the ''Three piece suite'', a beautiful track reminiscent of GENTLE GIANT's vocal harmonies and YES' symphonic arrangements...''Paraffinalea'' is a happy,pleasant song in the vein of YES and SUPERTRAMP,not the best track of the album,but it flows easily...''Yellow'' is another YES-like track,a soft song with nice Jon Anderson- like vocals followed by smooth piano and acoustic guitar interplay...And finally the last epic, ''Poisoned Youth'', the most original composition of the album where ENGLAND add their own flavor...Stunning!...

It is obvious that this album lacks in originality and that's a reason for a 3 star rating...But the musicianship is excellent,the symphonic arrangements are of first class and I'll give ENGLAND a 4 star rate for one more reason...At a time where YES and GENESIS (and maybe the whole prog community) seemed to lose their way of inspiration,ENGLAND gave us another symphonic rock gem...Highly highly recommended!