BYZANTIUM

The attempts of Byzantium on ''Live and studio'' had some impact, because propably a copy reached the offices of A&M Records, which eventually signed the band.Byzantium visited the Trident Studios in London with the line-up of Steve Corduner (drums), Chas Jankel (guitar, vocals), Robin Lamble (bass, vocals) and Nico Ramsden (guitar, keyboards, vocals), recording what was going to be their self-titled debut album, released in 1972.Jamie Rubinstein appears as a guest on acoustic guitar, but the list of guest musicians is longer, Derek Wadsworth plays brass instruments, Alan Skidmore is on sax, Frank Ricotti is on percussion.

For their biggest bet Byzantium appeared as a mediocre entry, having nothing really new to add to the emerging British Prog scene, moreover they sound much influenced by the 60's and the music of THE BEATLES, THE MOODY BLUES and PROCOL HARUM.While there is some sort of diversity and challenge in their music, they sound like struggling to move on from a more conservative style to a more intricate conformation.The principles of their music were still Psychedelic Rock and Orchestral Pop, making some CRESSIDA comparisons reasonable, but with so many sweet vocal harmonies and the addition of light jazzy and funky elements they confuse the listener about their true intention.Musically ''Byzantium'' is not bad at all, the decent melodies, some hard-edged guitar moves, s few acoustic textures and the big orchestral content with the brass and string sections in forefront offer a delicate, flexible sound with accesible songwriting values, but little left to imagination.Additional instruments such as the violin, the piano, the organ and the big brass sections help to a mature approach on Rock music, but the only track to really come out from the mass is the 10-min. farewell ''Why or maybe it's because''.A mix of dated Jazz Rock, symphonic music and Experimental Rock, where the sentimental multiple vocals come in evidence, but the arrangements are both complex and melodic with Classical-like variations and a strong rockin' content.

B-class Psych/Pop/Prog from UK.Definitely a nice buy for those retro fans, who like their music with harmonic and psychedelic overtones, but not a priority for a Prog fan.The closing suite is pretty cool and the best reason to search for this one...2,5 stars.