YOU CAN'T BEAT THEM

This is still only in vinyl and I have kept my copy of those years. Naturally , this is a compilation of their better numbers (some of them anyway) , but one cannot say their greatest hits since they are totally unknown. I am not sure that the otherwise unrelesed track is worth the hunt for the vinyl. Could serve as an intro to the band.

Lunch at the house on the hill

Simply called "Audience" on my cassette version, this is a compilation album, drawing mainly from Audience's "House on the hill" and "Lunch" albums. Indeed, only the fine ballad "It brings a tear" from "Friend's friend's friend", and the soft but unremarkable "Elixir of youth" (previously unreleased) are not taken from those two albums.

"House on the hill" was Audience's finest album by a country mile, so it makes sense that six tracks from it appear here. Of these, the two similar commercial pieces "I had a dream" and "Your not smiling" shine brightly, as does the excellent and very progressive "Jackdaw". The wonderful title track from that album is however omitted.

"Lunch" was a much more patchy affair, so it really is inexcusable that the only really notable track, "Stand by the door", is not included.

During their brief existence, Audience made some fine music. Their style was progressive with a focus on strong melodies, while allowing jazz influences to come to the fore, usually on the longer tracks. You either like Werth's vocals or you don't, but he is different. Unusually for a compilation, this album appears to be as hard to get as their other material. "House on the hill" seems to be the only Audience album which is generally available on CD, but it is the one to go for anyway.

I have just acquired original vinyl mostly to hear 'Elixir Of Youth' a track present only on this compilation album ( ha, what an afficionado !) - mentioned track turns out to be of the mellow kind, with typical Audience charm and as such has fulfiled my curiosity. Otherwise, chosen songs generally make a good sectional view of their work; my objection would be the fact that there's not a song from their debut album and that just one is taken from their second.Therefore, I would recommend to start chronologically, their opus is not a huge one anyway, but absolutely worth of attention.