AFFINITY

AFFINITY was a short-lived band that released one album and one single in 1970 and then spilt up. They were a highly regarded band and looked upon with much promise as the one of the new wave of jazz-rock fusion artists. With an effective blend of folk, jazz, soul, blues, and rudiments of modern-day psychedelia and progressive rock, it simply was not fair to put them into any one classification of music. With the powerful vocals of Linda Hoyle leading the way, it looked as though the band had quite a future ahead of them. It was not in the cards unfortunately. What they left for us was a superb achievement by any musical standards, and that includes the most important factors such as sound, production, and musicianship.

The original LP artwork is packaged and reproduced beautifully; it comes displayed on traditional gatefold sleeves with original reviews of the LP and liner notes. The180-gram virgin vinyl renders a gorgeous sound and highlights Ms. Hoyles' excellent vocals. What comes as a real surprise is their version of Dylan's "All Along The Watchtower." It runs for over 11 minutes and it stands as one of the very best versions I have ever heard, and that includes HENDRIX's classic version.

This is very progressive music for its day; in fact, logic dictates that it was more than likely considered a little on the extreme side in 1970. I cannot help but think how this group would have evolved if they had stayed together for a few more albums.

Rating: 4.5/5