GRATUITOUS FLASH

Whilst the idea that the early neo-prog bands were all Genesis clones is a gross generalisation - most of the bands showed a more varied range of influences than their detractors give them credit for - Abel Ganz' debut album is another matter. The album is from start to finish focused on replicating Genesis' mid-1970s style, though to their credit the band at least manage to imitate their musical heroes in a sufficiently loyal and intelligent way as to provide plenty of interest to Genesis fans.

Malcolm McNiven does a passable Hackett on the guitars, Hew Montgomery's keyboard work updates Tony Banks' 1970s approach to modern equipment very successfully, whilst Alan Reed sets himself apart from many Genesis-clone vocalists in proving equally willing to borrow elements of Phil Collins' delivery as he is to borrow from Peter Gabriel.

The whole package isn't going to astonish you with its originality, but it's got this odd sort of charm to it - and that's more than could be said of Genesis themselves in 1983. Nonetheless, the material here is basically rather simplistic, and the band has a bad habit of trying to pad out five minutes of ideas into ten minutes of music, so I wouldn't put a high priority on it unless you're very keen on neo-prog history.