THE NEIGHBOUR'S SON

"The Neighbour's Son" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Danish heavy psychadelic rock act Day of Phoenix. "The Neighbour's Son" was originally released on LP in 1972 through Sonet Records. The album was re-issued in 1979 as a double LP with the band´s first studio album "Wide Open N-Way (1970)". It´s been re-released both as a single CD and as a double CD set with "Wide Open N-Way (1970)" in recent years. After releasing "Wide Open N-Way (1970)" the band disbanded in 1971 as bassist/pianist Erik Stedt (also a member of Danish psychadelic rock act Beefeaters) sadly passed away. However the two guitarists Karsten Lyng and Ole Prehn opted to reform and reorganize the band. They recruited Ole Fick (guitars, vocals), Jess Stæhr (Bass) and Bo Thrige Andersen (Drums) to complete the lineup. All three were fresh out of work from the recently disbanded Burnin´ Red Ivanhoe. With a lineup like that expectations were naturally high to "The Neighbour's Son".

Unfortunately the band have changed their style a lot since "Wide Open N-Way (1970)". The tracks are (safe for a few exceptions) vers/chorus structured rock songs completely lacking the dark, heavy, psychadelic and semi-progressive nature of "Wide Open N-Way (1970)". The musicianship are obviously on a very high level and compared to the debut that part is actually more professionally executed. The music is still very guitar driven and it´s obvious that it´s two guitarists that are the main men behind the project. The issue here is the songwriting. The only track on the album that´s a bit adventurous is the 6:37 minutes long "Paradox". It´s also the longest track on the album and it´s the track that reminds me the most of the material from "Wide Open N-Way (1970)". The rest is not bad but it´s pretty unremarkable.

The sound production which is courtesy of Tony Reeves (Colosseum, Greenslade) is professional and well sounding. Pleasant and organic. So in many ways "The Neighbour's Son" is a quality release by Day of Phoenix. The compositions are just generally not memorable enough or intriguing enough to leave a lasting impression. A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.