FOR YOU THE OLD WOMEN

Mirthrandir was an obscure American progressive rock band from New Jersey. Mirthrandir's roots go back to 1973 when New Jersey's based drummer Robert Arace, keyboardist Simon Gannett, bassist James Miller, and lead guitarist Alexander Romanelli started jamming. Over the next couple of years the group when through a series of personnel changes, which was expanded to a six piece with guitarist Richard Excellente and singer/horn player John Vislocky.

As we know, USA has a wide array of progressive rock artists, nowadays, especially in the prog metal scene. However, it wasn't always like that. The American Progressive Rock scene back in the 70's was never particularly noteworthy in the eyes of most music seekers. It was more convenient to worship Kansas and slap the label of prog on any band that could get something on radio that was longer than four minutes. The best examples of that are probably, Pavlov's Dog, Styx, Starcastle and Blue Oyster Cult. But, even so, there aren't terribly many that stay strictly within the European symphonic progressive style and fewer still that do so on the same level as the original classics of that 70's prog scene.

Checking the Tolkien box with their name, Mirthrandir only released this single album in their lifetime, but it's just about everything you'd want from the style. While many of their contemporaries' bands were starting to mix up the influences with arena rock, Mirthrandir didn't do that, really. But they did everything right with effective and memorable melodies, lots of dramatic shifts in tone, pace, meter, and keys, a heavy dose of Yes, particularly the Steve Howe inspired guitar playing. And added to that, just the right amount of naiveté to keep the band just a little rough and tumble with their ambitions stretched to the limits. There's also a bit of trumpet work that gives the music a taste of something different.

The music produced by Mirthrandir was exceptional in its context. It's even more exceptional right now, in an entirely different world. Considering the company of many legendary prog bands who shared that time and space, Mirthrandir did a commendable job of filtering the influences that surrounded them, and bringing their own considerable talents into the fray as well. We can say the main influences are Genesis, Yes, Gentle Giant and King Crimson but with an own style. However, Mirthrandir wasn't as shrill or outright experimental as King Crimson or the Yes' family of pretense.

Their music is complex and well played. The arrangements are pure perfection, and include flute, organ and also some trumpet, as I mentioned before. The sound is "modern". You would never guess this was recorded during the mid 70's. These guys were excellent instrumentalists with Excellente and Romanelli providing considerable octane with their twin lead guitars. In the role of lead singer Vislocky had one of those high pitched pseudo Geddy Lee's styled voices that you either loved or hated, though his performances tended to grow on you. Surely, some tracks were complicated and certainly wouldn't do much for garage rock fans, but by the same token these guys understood the concept of melody.

The album kicks off with the title track. It starts very energetic, almost chaotic, with some fiery jazzy guitar/keyboard interplay before bringing in some horns and drum emphasis, which gives to the music a structure. The track slows down after a few minutes and becomes very melodic and pleasant with great atmosphere finishing strong at the end. "Conversation With Personality Giver" has a very lush keyboard and quick drumming that takes prominence over guitar, breaking down into slower tempos with piano and horns that for a nice sheen. "Light Of The Candle" has a more conventional structure than the last two tracks and less atmospheric, while being harder on guitar and more straightforward on the keyboards. Vocals are also quite nice here, making this track particularly good and a highlight of this album. "Number Six" is an instrumental track, which builds itself up ever so quietly with flute and sax before the drums come in, followed by some searing guitar and keyboard work spaced over the rest of the time. It's very pleasant to hear. "For Four" has nearly fifteen minutes of awesome music, taking elements of everything you've heard thusfar while throwing some organ and Mellotron into the mix to build foundation around the keyboard driven parts. And, of course, there's lots of great guitar work here. It's a nice way to end the album. This is my favorite piece on the album.

Conclusion: This is a quality work with impressive and memorable music. Few bands, even in the progressive realm, featured both trumpet and flute in their repertoire, but Mirthrandir pulled it off with amazing dexterity. Unfortunately, like so many other underappreciated prog rock bands, they produced only one album. I heartily recommend this album to anyone who wants to get a better idea of some of the music that was being done on the America's progressive front besides Kansas back in the mid of late 70's. The production is stellar, and unlike a lot of music from that period, I would say Mirthrandir's "For You The Old Women" has aged well. It sound isn't dated in any way, shape or form, and deserves a place in everyone's musical collection. This is, for me, one of the best American progressive rock albums of the 70's.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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