Let's discuss the Enid

Blacksword wrote: Joolz wrote: I owned Something Wicked This Way Comes on vinyl, but apart from Raindown and the title track I can't remember much about it except I didn't really connect much with it. Was this album typical?  No, this album was nothing like their 70's output at all. 'Something wicked..' is the one Enid album I still dont get on with. It was their first to include vocals, not their strongest conponant, although 'The Spell' which did have vocals was a much better album. I would go with 'In the Region of the summer stars' 'Airee Fairee Nonesense' and 'Six Pieces' It helps if you like instrumental, symphonic prog. A liking for classical music would help too. They are a very strange band, and not everyones cup of tea.

Unless the old brainbox is playing tricks on me again, I seem to recall they used to be based in a commune somewhere in Suffolk, and my copy of Something Wicked was made privately by them, and I ordered it directly from the band. Only several years later did it finally get released by a traditional record company.

Thanks for the advice. I do like classical music and Symphonic Prog though I often find modern instrumental music to be unsatisfying and lacking in focus. Might give them another try though ....

My favorite album is The Six Pieces  ! While watching the wonderful The Enid site, I noticed that some remastered CD albums contain re-arranged/re-recorded songs, reading the reviews on this site, not everybody is pleased with this. In my opinion the LP version of In The Region Of The Summer Stars is superior to the remastered version, what do you think about this?

     I had a piece of theirs in memory from the early eighties, on a cassette but later lost, but no idea who had done it. My brother vaguely remembered the name Enid, and we spent 6 months looking for it, until I found it on the Internet...it was "The Punch and Judy Man", from "Six Pieces", a brilliant neo-classical burner. We were even more shocked to see it was from 81, that good progressive was even happening then. Since then I've acquired "Summer Stars" and "Aerie-Fairy", and although it goes against my normal aesthetic, being too steeped in Romantic Classical, it's fascinating in that it's so well played and orchestrated, few bands can pull that off so elegantly, that a small rock ensemble sounds like an orchestra. "Six Pieces" is hard to find, but check it out, it's amazing.

Just to put in a good word for THE ENID's last studio album "White Goddess", released in 1998. If you like the 1970s THE ENID albums, you will probably be pleased with "White Goddess". It's more measured and not as OTT as "Aerie Faerie Nonsense" (which I like very much anyway). For anyone who has not heard THE ENID I would say it is as good a starting point as any, and for those who already know THE ENID's earlier albums, it should not disappoint.

Edited by Fitzcarraldo - July 07 2006 at 12:57