SPLITTING IONS IN THE ETHER

What a wonderfull surprise this album has turned out to be. I got an inexpensive copy on ebay a few weeks ago, I've had a hard time not playing it everyday since. I didn't really have high expectations for it, but now I want to hear more. The disc starts out with some very spacey synth work layered with wolf howls, reminds me of Klaus Schultz around Blackdance or Tangerine Dream from the Phaedra period. Track 2 has some really nice guitar work , interlocking patterns a la King Crimson ( I'm pretty sure that this was recorded before the Discipline album came out) but with a different tone than KC. BIG sounding Mellotron too. Track 3, The Balrog , opens with more interesting guitar figures and more wolves, lots of percussion and gongs, at about 2 minutes into this track the full band really kicks in with some great bass and drum work and then the hard turns start comming, very cool. The first time I played this I didn't know what was going to happen next. Track 3 is a rather heavy number with some hints of Gentle Giant in the way they use stops and overlaping riffs. The drummer lets loose on this track with some nice fills and interaction with the percussionist. Track 4, Aspen Flambe' is very different from all the other tracks on this disc. It is the shortist one, has vocals and is much simpler than all the rest. Not really a prog track, sounding more like some early metal or old fashioned hard rock than anything else. Track 6 is wonderfull, and the longest track on the album at just over 11 minutes. Lots of interesting parts going on, flute, more gongs, bass pedals, and that blessed Mellotron. There are hints of Genesis in this track but nothing overt. Track 7 starts out with more vocals over a really nice guitar figure, works perfectly! Then the full band kicks in and takes this number into the realm of Genesis at their best, it almost sounds like an unused track from Foxtrot or Selling England By The Pound. At the end of this track you finally realize that this a live album, up untill this point you really think that you are hearing a studio recording. Track 8, The Abduction. Now I'm really confused, I had begun to think that the St. Elmo's Fire sound was more of a Genesis type symphonic thing, but they go into a perfect Bruford/Wetton period King Crimson crazy improv/jam thing, the only problem with this track is that it is just not long enough. Track 9, another melodic begining, a la Genesis circa Foxtrot, but this becomes a heavy exercise with a cool spacey section sandwiched in the middle that finally closes with a classical type of ending that Bach might have written. All in all, for a 25 year old live album that was recorded to a 2 track tape machine, this is a mighty fine piece of work. Any lover of quality prog would find lots to enjoy here. And while I have used famous bands as a comparison, these guys don't really sound like anybody else, and that in it's self is something to admire.