CRESSIDA

This short-lived British band made only two albums in the early 70's, both of which have gained some cult status typical of rarities. Well, I don't care much of the (vinyl) rarity aspect, these are well available on CD anyway, but I agree with fellow reviewer about some overratedness. They simply were in a minor league. But who knows how much they could have improved with a longer career...

Cressida's second album Asylum made a strong impression on me some years ago, and eventually I later bought this debut. I was disappointed because this is quite another kind of an album. Whereas Asylum had a lot of variety in the structure - including small-scale epic approach and instrumental sections - , here songs are more or less in the same vein, ie. tight, shortish and mostly upbeat songs. More like 'Proto-Prog' than 'Symphonic Prog'. But once you get over that, you find also this album quite enjoyable. Angus Cullen's Justin Hayward -type of vocals are again very nice (I'm NOT making other statements of the presumed MOODY BLUES similarity!), and the overall sound has aged charmingly. You hear a lot of mellow organ. The DOORS was my first association (actually only a certain part of Doors' repertoire, perhaps best represented on Waiting For The Sun album). Several associations can always be made but Cressida had a sound of their own. Anyway, I would have wanted more of the emotional and calmer side of music I found on Asylum. Maybe I'm still not familiar enough with this album to get rid of the sense of sameness between tracks. I'm giving this 2,5 stars, hesitatedly.

The cover art really doesn't work at all in the CD reproduction.