SPRING

Having been an Art Rock fan of many years, i am pleased that companies such as Repertoire have released many "lost" gems. "Spring" is one i hadn't heard and was keen to investigate, so having bought the CD this review is based on i was initially impressed by the sound quality of the recording, very clear and three-dimensional, though my main qualms are with the actual music. Compared to many albums around this period, i found this rather lightweight, and lacking in many departments. The first thing that struck me is although the quality of the musicianship is really excellent, some interesting little riffs and solos, lovely sounding (if sometimes slightly off-key) mellotrons, nothing here musically is really groundbreaking, particularly for 1971 which was a fantastic year for excellent new music.You seem to be waiting for something to happen, but it never does. Overall the album is rather pedestrian, plodding and uninspiring. Not a fan of the husky "morning after the night before" style of singing, i found the vocals on this album rather tired, flat and unmusical, and a few vocal mannerisms, such as pronouncing 'r' as 'w' rather irritating after a while, and words ending in 'ing' sung as 'in', or 'naaahts', 'peepull' and 'steepull '. As far as the songs go, there are one or two good tunes such as "the prisoner" and "grail" but i found most of them rather contrived, rhyming-by-numbers. in my opinion it's not surprising how this one found its way into the bargain bins as there are very many other albums released at this time which were very much better. According to the cd booklet, Ray (or should it be Paul) Martinez and Pat Moran went on to work with Robert Plant, on his excellent "Principle of Moments" album, so i guess something great came out of "Spring" eventually! one for completionists, collectors only though, i'm afraid!