DIRGE

There are maybe a handful of albums that allow me to recall exactly where and when I heard them. This baby is one. I wrote a book on prog and even I don't have the means to describe just what a killer this is. I mean it - no lie. One of the three or four best prog albums EVER. Very, very sophisticated, just bizarre enough to be fun, but apart from that a lovely and harmonically-very-advanced mixture of Gabriel Faure, Zappa, Enid and Canterbury; Steve Hackett influences there too - they were to the fore on the almost-as- good Barren Dream, but less so here. The drumming and guitar playing - ah, it's ridiculous. Whatever they were on, I want some. This one is essential. Six stars.