IN THE WAKE OF POSEIDON

I am usually reluctant in reviewing old works from band of the late 60'ies / early 70'ties but I was positively enthusiast when I discovered "In The Court" (in 1974) and this feeling still prevails. Would their next effort reach or surpassed "In The Court..." ?

The very short intro (50 seconds) is the first of a "suite" of three. We'll get "Peace - A Theme" in the middle which is a good accoustic track (definitely inspired Hackett/Howe in some acoustic parts of their respective works) and finally "Peace - An End" to close the album.

It is followed by "Pictures of a City" which is a lenghtly jazz number. During the intrumental parts it sounds as an inprov. Vocal part are really good. The link with "Schizoid" is obvious. It is a strong, almost heavy number. Quite representative of the "second" side of KC. "First side" being the subtle and symphonic one featured mainly on their debut album only (unfortunately).

"Cadence And Cascade" is a very nice and gentle soft song like "I Talk To The Wind". It is also an indicator of some ELP work to come ("Lucky Man", "C'est La Vie"). At this stage, it is defnitely noticeable that this album is a second attempt to recreate "ITCOTCK". But who can blame them, since it was so beautiful ?

"In The Wake of Poseidon" is the type of wonderful KC song I love : symphonic mellotron, great accoustic guitar, fabulous vocals. The highlight here and one of their best track ever. Very similar to "In The Court..." of course (the track). This is my preferred KC. Alas, there are not plenty of these ones in their repertoire. It is a song of an incredible beauty, passionate. Side one of this album is of course VERY similar to their first album, but it is not at all annoying to my ears. Really on par.

"Cat Food" is a jazzy song tempting to be rocky. Poor and boring : this track is very dispensible and the weakest of the album IMO.

"The Devil's Triangle" is a scary track. Good for a horror movie. For almost two minutes, one can hardly hear the music (even at full volume). One only can guess the nice mellotron melody. It only starts after three minutes and sounds like a "Bolero" type of song. It is very hypnotic and works quite well, I must say. At times, it sounds too much as an improv to my ears though.

This album might sound as a secondhand copy for "ITCOTCK". It is less creative (since it has already been done before) but still quite remarkable. Four stars.

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