INDIAN SUMMER

Many years ago I bought this album as one of a few remaining items left in a record store that was about to close down. What struck me initially was the albums resemblance in many ways to that of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid"; the four band member's photograph on the inside gatefold, Jim Simpson the manager, Rodger Bain the producer; only the label (R.C.A.Neon) appeared to be different. Musically the album was to me a very impressive piece of work for a debut despite the unnecessary length of some of the tracks, a cult feature of the work of many progressive bands at the time. A minute or so clipped off some tracks would have made for a much less tedious listening experience whilst helping the sound engineer achieve a much better overall sound. Production-wise,I always thought was the weak aspect on this one; my first stereo system just could not produce enough volume to overcome the constraints of a rather quiet and flat sounding L.P. Forty odd minutes fine but nearly fifty was pushing it a bit on a 12" vinyl disc for the type of music on offer. In particular the drums sounded like someone was playing a set of soggy cardboard boxes which I am sure is definitely not the case. The songs on this fine album have remained with me even after all these years and I often give it a spin or play the C.D. in the car. What a great pity it is that this was Indian Summer's one and only offer because the potential for furtherence was very much there.