IT'S A BEAUTIFUL DAY

This is one album I had heard a lot about over the years but only recently I had the opportunity to fully appreciate it through a friend who was kind enough to lend it to me for a few weeks. It´s a Beautiful Day´s debut work is very impressive and promised a lot (which, unfortunately, was not fulfilled). Although there is not much prog in here, it was nevertheless an excellent CD for such new band and it did contain some very strong and sometimes unusual music for the period.

Side A of the vinyl is surely the best with the classic standout track opening: White Bird is surely their most remarkable song. A nice, haunting tune led by the dual voices of David LaFlamme and Pattie Santos, good Hammond organ lines and very effective acoustic guitar and fiddle solos. This beautiful song deserved to become such a celebrated item since. A Hot Summer´s Day follows through similar patterns and its melody , feeling and harmonica opening reminds me a lot of another hit around the time, the much more famous Sunny. The third track, Wasted Union Blues, is quite heavier than the previous two, with a strident intro I didn´t like. However, as the tune develops it turns out to be a good number (it might have sounded great live). Girl With No Eyes is another gem: a gorgeous ballad with a delicate, inspired melody, mysterious lyrics and poignant vocals. One of their best.

Side B is not as powerful, but still shows the band´s enormous potential anyway. Highlights are the instrumental Bombay Calling and some interesting parts of the longest track, Time is (not the drum solo on it). David LaFlamme has a nice and soulful voice, but I´d like to hear Pattie Santos sing at least one solo, which she does not here. She only harmonizes and her singing is also quite nice and reminds a lot of the way Grace Slick´s harmonies of the Jefferson Airplanes stuff (an obvious influence).

All in all it was clear that the band had very talented musicians and could go very far had they developed from this electrifying start. It is only a pity that internal squabbles and frequent line up changes would prevent it until they faded away altogether. Nevertheless, they did produce some great songs and most of them are here. Rating: 3,5 stars that I´ll round up to four because it was a really good effort for a new band and it left a lasting impression.