BANQUET

If there ever was an album where big-band brass met the symphonic mastery of progressive rock while still retaining a hard-rock candy surface, "Banquet" was probably it. This is the sound of a band that has finally struck a balance between what it wants to do and what it aspires to reach, and the result couldn't have been better.

With every track comes a new mood and voice, and led bluesily, sometimes ferociously by the impressively ranged vocals of John Lawton, who would later front Uriah Heep. "Spanish Galleon' in particular is rediculously impressive in both its beginning and ending minutes, and "Thus Spoke Oberon" and "Sorrow" both seem to raise the diversity quite a bit, while at the same time being notably progressive in the compositional sense.

Honestly, people can try to compare this album to the sounds of other bands they want, but ultimately comparions prove fruitless; this album is undeniably progressive rock, but at the same time its something more than what constitutes the genre its part of. This, ladies and gentleman, is a very special album and one of the best I've ever come across. Sometimes contagiously energetic and jazzy, other times moody and insightful...it's quite the ride either way, and deserved far more attention than it got at the time of it's release.

Long live Lucifer's Friend, and may others discover the joy of their magnificent sound just as countless others before me have done.