LAST AUTUMN'S DREAM

I joined ProgArchives a few months ago in order to support one of my favorite albums in a poll. The question was which Jade Warrior album was best. Last Autumn's Dream was not faring well, so I joined up to place my support for it. How's that for fan dedication? Since then I have voted in many other polls and engaged in a few discussions, yet have not written a review until now. Last Autumn's Dream is not only one of my favorite Jade Warrior albums, but also one of my favorite albums of all time. The edition I have is the Repetoire limited edition Repuk 1104, which is beautifully remastered.

This album has been criticized for being scattered, but I find its quality lies in its ability to sequence such diverse music together into a unified whole. The numerous styles represented are juxtaposed, but not always with subtlety, but that just demonstrates one Jade Warrior's stylistic keys. The band formed to explore unusual rhthym patterns and dynamics. Here, each song is almost totally different from its predecessor, yet all is distinctly Jade Warrior. The core of the band at this time is Glyn Havard on bass and vocals, Tony Duhig on acoustic and electric guitars, and percussionist-cum-flautist John Field who some may recognize from Tubular Bells. To this core are added Allan Price on drums and Dave Duhig, brother to Tony, on electric guitar. These latter two would soon become full fledged band members. It is not my intention to break my reviews into analyses of each song individually, but I think it appropriate for Last Autumn's Dream.

A Winter's Tale: The album begins softly with a mellow song about the gentle pleasures of a warm home on a cold night. Field's flute provides atmosphere accentuated by Tony Duhig's guitar fills. After a couple of minutes the sing rises to an exhuberant level and ends in a simple la-la-la chant augmented by dynamic guitar leads. This fades out as the next song fades in.

Snake is as different as can be. It fades in with Dave Duhig's wild guitar, picking up on where brother Tony left off previously. Fuzz bass brings the song to full grunge and everything plows on until a brief soft interlude. The grunge jumps back in for a verse and the song slips into a kind of funk rock beat underlying the flute.

Dark River is again something altogether different. Solo flute creates a dark mood. Price's drums come in softly and we are on a journey reminiscent of Conrad's Heart of Darkness. The drums are primal and earthy, the flute flying above like birds on the wing. A peak is reached and everything stops abruptly. Acoustic guitars enter. We are still on the journey upriver, but the course is now closed in. The atmosphere becomes tense and we must be careful of the route we take. Flute enhances the sense of danger. Drums return, more prominent than before, but just as primal. Field lays down the flute for congas and Tony Duhig adds to the percussion with scratching guitar. This reaches a frenzy and then everything stops abruptly once again.

Bending guitar notes introduce JoAnne, another rocker, albeit more complex than Snake. This song goes through many changes in a short time, all flowing smoothly together. Simple vocal lines and wailing guitar repeat to the end.

The instrumental Obedience closes the first half, the original first side. I have a hard time describing this piece. A single unchanging rhythm continues throughout and is buried by layer after layer of distorted guitar until it all plateaus in an impenetrable veil of trills and oscillations. This one must be heard to be understood.

Morning Hymn starts the second half on much the same tone as A Winter's Tale: pastoral, warm, and homey. A beautiful piece to send one into quiet contemplation. But Jade Warrior will not allow that mood to continue for long.

A quick twangy chord breaks the morning mood and brings us to May Queen, the albums most complex track. It is lively, and jazzy in places, and contains some stellar lead guitar.

Demon Trucker is a party song, straight and simple with a driving beat and repeated melody. Very catchy.

Lady of the Lake is my favorite song on the whole album, and in many ways is the climax. The vocal melody is beautiful and the lyrics exquisite, as is Tony Duhig's guitar playing. His tone is a near-perfect balance between clean and distroted. The song, more than any others, demonstrates his unique genius. It also represents the best qualities of Jade Warrior in one package and every element works harmoniously.

Borne on to the Solar Winds brings the proceedings to a close with another instrumental. Here we have a repeated melody, deceptively simple, which builds up through orchestration to acheive a granduer before it fades out. The dark river has run its course, not through the jungle, but through the river of time, or rather, timelessness.

This album, for all its diversity, works as a complete whole greater than the sum of its parts. Each song can be listened to individually and appreciated on its own merits, yet there is a flow to their sequencing that cannot be guessed at from any of them alone. I have had this album on vinyl for decades, and have even taped it so I could listen to it as often as I liked without worry of wearing it out (it's not an easy one to find in my neck of the woods). Hearing it all in one go, without flipping it over, reveals the extent of the overall flow.

I have called Last Autum's Dreams the best album ever in the past, and I still put it into that category.