IN THE REGION OF THE SUMMER STARS

This is a truly astonishing debut album. I bought it when it was released after hearing a BBC session that the Band had done for the legendary "Saturday Afternoon Rock Show" that was presented by Alan "Fluff" Freeman (not 'arf!). I don't think that the session was ever broadcast, but back in those heady days I worked at the BBC and tape copies of good (some great) sessions used to be passed around the engineering staff.

The yheme of this album is Tarot Cards, and each section is supposed to represent a Card. "The Lovers" (a pseudo-Rachmaninov piano solo - that I subsequently learned to play myself) is the only non-band item - it's essentially RJG solo. It's utterly gorgeous (as befits the topic).

My favourite section of the album is (probably) the latter part of Side Two, but as others have mentioned this is the kind of album that you can play all the way through, and in some respects is best heard that way. The quality of composition and the standard of the musicianship is truly outstanding - far ahead of anything even vaguely comparable from that era. It is a unique album in many ways, and is almost beyond the progressive rock genre that it uneasily fits into - this is symphonic prog on a majestic scale.

It may be that many listeners will not agree with my rating of this unusual and iconic album, but please give it a little time - if you don't "get it" at a first or second listen, come back to it after a little while, and notice all the little details that you missed on your previous listens.... It's really worth the effort!

A truly wonderful album.