GARDEN SHED

ENGLAND sound like a cross between YES and GENESIS with a dash of GENTLE GIANT.They present melodic and uplifting music that is at times too light for my tastes.There is also mellotron on every track, and if it had been released in 1972 it would be a classic. It came out too late though (1977) and really does sound too much like the bands I mentoned earlier.

"Midnight Madness" opens with orchestral-like sounds before it kicks in after 1 1/2 minutes sounding very YES-like. Vocals join in. Some nice drum work here and the vocal arrangements are cool before 4 1/2 minutes. It then settles with whispered vocals before building again. "All Alone" features high pitch vocals accompanied with piano, very QUEEN-like. Not a fan of this one.

"Three Piece Suite" has some excellent sections in it. Again when the vocals come in i'm thinking YES. Very enjoyable and I like the pulsating organ.The guitar becomes the focus after 5 minutes before it picks back up with bass and mellotron after 6 minutes. Love this part. Tempo picks up 8 1/2 minutes in with the vocals being too high pitched for my taste. Mellotron's back late. "Paraffinalea" is so catchy once it kicks in. "Yellow" has a psychedelic feel to it and it's my favourite. It's dreamy with mellotron, acoustic guitar and vocals. "Poisoned Youth" is a little darker, lots of mood shifts in this one. The drummer is tremendous, and there is some excellent guitar. It gets pretty heavy before It ends dramatically followed by the wind blowing.

This is one of those albums that could easily be a 3 star or a 4 star. It's right on the border as far as i'm concerned.