TO SAMUEL A SON

The Gods had a long and complicated history, beginning in Hatfield in the mid 1960s. At one point Greg Lake fronted them, and after his departure the group settled around the line up of Joe Konas, the late John Glascock, Lee Kerslake, and Ken Hensley around 1967. This line up as you may know would later become part of the hard hitting yet melodic group Uriah Heep. Hard hitting yet melodic sums up some of this wonderful album, but The Gods in a bid to go out with a bang and split up having achieved something of worth (their two albums prove that in spades- unfortunately I don't own Genesis yet, but I heard it some time ago) tried for one side devoted to a concept, the other to songs not linked to the concept. The concept side is quite impressive, with much mellotron, Hammond organ, soulful melodic vocal harmonies, and a great lead voice from Ken Hensley. Most impressive of Side One's nine tracks are the opening title track, "Sticking Wings On Flies" (you gotta hear this to believe it!), "He's Growing," and I'd say "Lady Lady." There's a lot of transitional 60s into 70s stuff here, the organ and guitar sounding like a precursor to what would happen only a year later when "progressive rock" was born. I don't consider any track on this record "progressive" instead opting for the term "art rock." You should realize that though linked together sometimes these are very different things. Art rock is more the Moody Blues/Beatles/Kaleidoscope/Koobas kind of proto serious "art" in a rock context and leaning towards the song based and thoughtful. So what is progressive? That's when the longer tracks and heavy classical/jazz influences and the underground vibe come in. The Gods then can be viewed as one of the greatest art rock bands and this one of the greatest soft psychedelic into art rock albums. There's not one thing I'd change about this record, I simply love it and think that they did a great job in pulling off some magic at the tail end of their career. Listen especially to "Momma I Need-" this track is mindblowing! The harmonies and music are first class, and the lyrics- deep and meaningful. If you like the best music of the 1960s and early 1970s you need to own this album, and this band. If you want to know what Uriah Heep started off as, buy it as well, but you may be a bit shocked as not much of this band's output is bludgeoningly heavy. For the time was it? Yes, some tracks definitely were, but it doesn't sound heavy next to Look At Yourself or Salisbury. If you can imagine the early Deep Purple jamming with The Moody Blues and a bit of Asgard/Argent in there, you get it. Anyways, a masterpiece and an album that has stood up brilliantly.