Prog Britannia - Album Reviews

It's all aboard the magic bus for a "Ride with Captain Max", and what a wild psychedelic ride it is! This song is a veritable potpourri of acid-drenched guitar leads, gloriously combined with gentle acoustic guitar passages. This absolutely fabulous groovy sixties song is flying as high as a kite as these uplifting lyrics reveal:- "How can you fly so high? So high up in the sky, I wish I could fly so high, Up there with you in the sky." ..... There's no need for any illegal substances though when you can just get high by listening to great music like this. It's time to get back on board the magic bus again for the next stop on our magical musical mystery tour: "Spinning Wheel". This guitar and sitar song sounds as Indian as curry and poppadoms, but it's still Quintessentially English (or Welsh) at heart, featuring a simply stunning sitar solo that radiates 1960's flower-power like a bright ray of sunshine. This is sonic nirvana for the soul! If you've ever suffered from insomnia, then you'll be able to relate to the next song: "No Sleep Blues". It's a jingly-jangly, country-tinged 1960's Pop song that barrels along relentlessly at a brisk pace, sounding like an express train rattling rhythmically down the tracks. Despite the title, the song has a buoyant feel-good groove to it, so you're unlikely to sleep through this bright and lively number. It's time to say "Goodbye" now, because that's the title of our next song, even though we're not yet halfway through the album. As you can probably guess from the title, "Goodbye" is a bittersweet ballad where the broken-hearted vocalist sounds like he's nearly in tears, having just been dumped by his sweetheart. proving that all is NOT fair in love and war. Oh dear! The best songs are often written as the result of broken relationships though, and that's the case here as this is a lovely 1960's melody from the Golden Age of Pop. When love goes sour, you need friends, and our broken-hearted singer is reaching out now with "I Need My Friend", another wild psychedelic excursion along the hippy trail onboard the magic bus. It's back to nature for the heartfelt plea of "Mother Earth", a gently charming Folk-Rock song to close out Side One in fine style, in an album that really IS turning out to be a wondrous album full of "Contrasts".

The next song will sound VERY familiar, because it's a very accomplished version of the Beatles' classic "Eleanor Rigby", given the Blonde on Blonde jangling guitar treatment. There's also the sonorous sound of a trumpet to be heard throughout the song, although one suspects it's a cleverly-disguised keyboard "voice". Either way, it's a rousing good way to open Side Two. This particular rendition of "Eleanor Rigby" has an altogether happier vibe to it than the original melancholy Beatles' version though. When it comes to great Rock albums, this long-lost treasure chest full of good solid songs really makes the grade, and "Conversationally Making the Grade" is the title of our next song. It's another rip-roaring sonic boom of keyboard prog with some wild psychedelic guitar riffing thrown in too. This music is a blast! We're in the "Regency" suite next for a brief neo- classical harpsichord piece which J.S. Bach would have been proud of. This leads us gently into "Island on an Island", a lovely nautical-sounding Folk song that dances merrily along on a wave of flutes, acoustic guitars and gorgeous multi-part harmonies. There's a beautiful ballad on the way with "Don't Be Too Long", which is a complete contrast to the heavier psychedelic numbers on Side One, and it's a welcome diversion too, featuring a vibrant acoustic guitar and with the singer in appealingly fine voice. This is probably one of the best 1960's Pop songs that no one's ever heard of, and if you're lucky enough to rediscover this long-lost hidden gem from the tail-end of the 1960's, then I'm sure you'll agree. We're off to meet the beautiful "Jeanette Isabella" now for the final song on this marvellous album that's a constant Liquorice Allsorts box of contrasts. And what a gloriously uplifting piece of music it is too, featuring scintillating sitars and acid-soaked electric guitars. The song does have a slight melancholy air to it, but the music is just sublime!

"Contrasts" is exactly what it says on the label. The album is a whole kaleidoscope of constantly changing psychedelic rainbow colours, featuring mainly Psychedelic Rock songs on Side One and with a whole psychedelicatessen of musical styles to select from on Side Two. There's something here to suit everyone's tastes in this veritable smorgasbord of great music, and there's a pleasant surprise in store with nearly every song too when you never quite know what's coming up next. They say that blondes have more fun, and Blonde on Blonde definitely sounded like they had fun making this magnificent album of "Contrasts".

Ooooh Baby, this powerful opening song is a real surprise because "Ooooh Baby (Goin' to Pieces)" is a complete departure from the proggy music of YES. This is a lively Blue-Eyed Soul number, featuring the deep soulful voice of Alan Marshall (who?) getting all emotional. There's a fast-paced Jazzy feel to the music with some resounding supersonic outbursts of Hammond organ and with Alan White pounding away passionately at an incredible pace on the drums. All in all, it's a great way to open the album. The second song "One Way Rag" has a funky syncopated groove, so if you're looking for fun and feeling groovy, you may be inspired to get up and dance, or get down and boogie to this stirring Soul number. The lovely three-part harmonies of the soulful backing singers - Madeline Bell, Joanne Williams & Vicky Brown - sound in mighty fine voice on this uplifting Jazz-Funk song. These three gospel girls have got SOUL! There's no clue as to what the next piece of music might be all about, because the mysteriously-titled "Avakak" is a Jazzy instrumental. It's the longest piece of music on the album at nearly seven minutes in duration, so there's plenty of time to unleash a wild foray into the weird and wonderful realms of experimental Jazz-Fusion. And now we come to the beautiful highlight of the album, "Spring - Song of Innocence", a bright and sunny song that's positively abounding with the innocent joys of spring. This truly gorgeous song features Alan White's YES bandmates Jon Anderson on vocals and Steve Howe on guitar. It's a lovely warm song that's all aglow with optimism and shining brightly with all of the radiant energy of a one million candle power lighthouse on full beam.

Side Two opens in stirring style with "Giddy", a soulful Jazz-Rock refrain, featuring a scintillating synthesiser solo. This is another rousing Blue-Eyed Soul number that barrels along non-stop at a giddy pace with Alan White's drums instilling the song with dynamic energy and power. The next song "Silly Woman" represents the silliest inclusion on the album. It's a playfully light-hearted pseudo Reggae song that sounds like a bright burst of Caribbean sunshine, but it's a long way distant from Bob Marley & the Wailers. It's as close to genuine Jamaican Reggae as "The Tide is High" by Blondie or "Tropical Loveland" by ABBA. It's time now to raise a glass for the brief alcoholic interlude "Marching into a Bottle", an instrumental flighty flute and guitar excursion to while away two minutes of spare time whilst sipping on your favourite aperitif. Gather 'round "Everybody", because that's the title of our next stirring Jazz-Rock song. This soulful Jazzy number storms along at a thunderous pace, and if you listen carefully, you can hear those same steel drum sounds of the Caribbean that we heard earlier on the "Silly Woman" song. "Darkness" is descending now for the closing song of the album. This lovely symphonic melody features a rich tapestry of lush orchestral strings - arranged and conducted by David Bedford - although it's still a Jazzy Blue-Eyed Soul song at heart.

If you're expecting to hear elements of the classic YES sound in Alan White's "Ramshackled", then you can expect to be sorely disappointed, because it's not in the least bit proggy. On the other hand, if you're in the mood for some stirring Jazz-Funk with a heart full of Soul, then this might just be the album for you. There's a couple of real shining highlights on the album: "Spring - Song of Innocence" to close out Side One, and "Darkness" to close out Side Two, and the album as a whole represents a good all-round debut from YES drummer Alan White. It's certainly not a "Ramshackled" album in any way, shape or form.

The album opens with an energetic Funk-Rock cover version of Affinity's "I Am And So Are You". This is a funky Blues-Rock number with a bold and brassy attitude that's not going to stand for any nonsense, as these uncompromising lyrics reveal:- "I am a singer of songs, A writer of wrongs, A dreamer of sighs, A hater of lies, And so are you." ..... It sounds like the singer's dour mood hasn't improved with the title of our next song "Sad Am I", but it's really an uplifting Sunshine Pop song, sounding as fresh and sunny as a sun-ripened California orange grove. This warm and radiant music draws obvious parallels with the California Sunshine Pop band, The Association, particularly when it comes to the lush golden harmonies to be heard on this glowing sunburst of music. It's a song that's positively bursting with joyous optimism, despite the song title. We're heading out on the highway next for "Midnight Cruiser", a good old-fashioned Funk-Rock driving song for listening to whilst cruising down the highways and byways on a sunny day with the windows down and with the wind ruffling your hair. It's not as mean and bad- to-the-bone as Steppenwolf's "Born To Be Wild". This is more of a melodic and harmonic, middle-class family station wagon driving song with a happy carefree vibe. We're still on the road (or the pavement) with the amusingly-titled "Keep Death Off The Road (Drive On The Pavement)". This powerful song is an out-and-out rocker which barrels along relentlessly like an express locomotive thundering rhythmically down the tracks. It's a stonkingly-good Hard Rock song that's very reminiscent of the better-known "Jail Bait" classic by Wishbone Ash.

It's time now for the magnificent 21-minute-long epic and ultimate highlight of the album , "Circumstances (In Love, Past, Present, Future Meet)". This Side-long magnum opus has it all! "Circumstances" is a majestic Progressive Rock exhibition performance, featuring such diverse music as gently pastoral Prog-Folk passages, wild onrushes of uninhibited Psychedelic Rock, and dynamic outpourings of Symphonic Prog in all of its ceremonial pomp and glorious magisterial splendour - and underpinning it all are those oh-so-beautiful Sunshine Pop harmonies from the scintillating sextet of singers. This tremendous masterpiece is simply sensational!

Capability Brown have landscaped a magical garden of musical delights with this endlessly diverse album of timeless classics. This is an outstanding album you can fall in love with over and over again and enjoy listening to under any Circumstances, wherever Past, Present and Future happen to meet.

The first song "Hawk The Hawker" is a country-tinged tune, which is probably not surprising, considering it's the only song on the album to feature the sound of a steel guitar. There's also a harmonica to be heard too, giving the song the feel of a typical Folk-Rock song that Bob Dylan might have recorded back in his heyday. It's a jolly good bright and happy twangy tune to open the album in buoyant optimistic style. Blossoming into view next is "Bluebell", a pretty Psych-Folk song in the psychedelic garden of earthly delights. The acoustic guitar sounds somewhat akin to a jangling Greek bouzouki, conjuring up images of a traditional plate-smashing spree in a Greek restaurant, although the restaurant owner might be none too pleased. Serf's Up now for "The Midnight Hanging Of A Runaway Serf", a pleasant Folk song that jollies merrily along despite the dark and dismal subject matter of the song. Maybe all the serf wanted to do was runaway and listen to some feudal serf music down at the beach. The next piece of music is dedicated "To Julie", whoever the mysterious Julie is, because it's a jingly-jangly acoustic guitar instrumental. "Gypsy Girl & Rambleway" is next, so you can expect to hear a lively burst of traditional Romany gypsy dance music, and that's exactly what you get. It's a liberating orgy of free-spirited music for cavorting and carousing around the campfire together in a slightly drunken and hedonistic fashion. This chirpy charming tune represents freedom, passion and playfulness.

It's time to put the brolly up now for the Side Two opener: "Do Not Walk In The Rain", a lively piano number that sounds just like a train trundling rhythmically down the tracks, which seems fitting, as the lyrics reveal the song is all about  getting on the train to avoid the rain:- "So I'm gonna take you down to the station, And put you upon a train. So please, Do not walk in the rain." ..... All aboard! We're getting all Shakespearian now for "Much Ado About Nothing", which turns out to be a pleasant little ditty, featuring what sounds very much like a plucky mandolin, although a mandolin's not mentioned in the album credits, so maybe it's an electric harpsichord, which IS mentioned in the credits. Anyway, it's an insouciant song that's as blithe and carefree as the song title implies. There are creepy goings-on in the "Graveyard" now, a song that sounds pleasantly pastoral despite the bats in the belfry doom and gloom message contained within the lyrics:- "In a graveyard I have been, A body I have seen, From the sharp burn I have dreamed, That body was me." ..... Oh well, not to worry, it's nowhere near as scary as the dark and disturbing music of Comus, so there's no need to sleep with the lights on tonight. Let us pray for the harvest now, because the next brief tune "Famine Song" is an a capella devotional call to prayer, very much in the style of that well-known dirge "Gaudete" by Steeleye Span. Yes, it really IS that depressing. Never mind though, because the final 6-minute- long "Autumn Childhood" is a lovely sing-along song (despite the dismal lyrics), so rattle those tambourines, shake those tassels, and ring them bells!

This fairly traditional Psych-Folk album is unlikely to appeal to Prog-Rock fans generally because it's not in the remotest bit proggy and it's not rock either, but if you're a fan of the Incredible String Band and other acoustic English Folk bands of that ilk, then this might be just the album for you. "Full Circle" is just one album in a whole Forest of Psych-Folk albums, and there's really nothing new or original on offer here that you haven't heard before. It's not an outstanding album by any means, as there are no stand-out songs on the album. It's just a pleasantly pastoral acoustic Folk diversion to while away an afternoon. "Full Circle" is altogether easy-on-the-ears and it's a good solid three-star album, but no more than that. It's the kind of very agreeable easy listening Folk album that you could buy your dear old auntie for Christmas, safe in the knowledge that nothing's going to jump out of the album and give her a fright like a Comus album undoubtedly would.

It's a jolly good opening to the album with the title track "Kaleidoscope", a jolly-sounding 2-minute burst of Sunshine-Pop that's positively bounding along with joyous optimism. It's a good all-round late-1960's Pop tune with a bright and sunny disposition, where all the birds are singing and the fluorescent flowers are blooming in the psychedelic garden of earthly delights. The curiously-titled "Please Excuse My Face" follows next. It's a gorgeous acoustic guitar arrangement where the lovelorn singer is in full romantic balladeer mode and pining away forlornly over his lost love. This beautiful ballad sounds as charmingly English as afternoon tea and crumpets whilst watching a game of cricket on the village green. Howzat! We're taking a psychedelic trip back in time now as we "Dive Into Yesterday", a song that's awash with colourful acid-tinged guitar vibes. It's a catchy tune that's very reminiscent of the Beatles at their most psychedelic, with influences from the West Coast sound of sunny California. This joyfully sunny music sounds as bright and bubbly as a glass of sparkling lemonade. And now we come to the curious tale of "Mr. Small, The Watch Repairer Man", the kind of cheerfully light-hearted Pop song that could only come from England in the late 1960's. It's a carefree and playful little number that doesn't take itself too seriously and it's representative of the Best of British Psychedelic Pop. We're travelling to distant foreign lands now with "Flight from Ashiya", only this appears to be a doomed flight as the constant refrain in this song is "Nobody Knows Where We Are" ..... Oh dear! It seems that despite the pleasant sunshine sound of this jangling and exotic Byrds-like psychedelia, the flight has gone down in the middle of nowhere. The dark mood continues with "The Murder Of Lewis Tollani", which closes Side One on a sombre note, although don't get too down-hearted because it's really a great Sunshine Pop song despite the solemn message in the lyrics.

The strangely-titled "(Further Reflections) In The Room Of Percussion" opens Side Two. It's a typically cheerful 1960's Pop tune but who knows what the song's about as the convoluted lyrics are like a riddle wrapped inside an enigma on a psychedelic acid trip. One thing's for sure, "In the Room of Percussion" is nothing to do with a drummer doing a sound-check in the recording studio. We're meeting the charming "Dear Nellie Goodrich" next, which turns out to be a short but sweet jingly- jangly sunshine burst of lovely English Pop music, featuring some delightful sugar-coated harmonising. This very agreeable tune is as sweet as a jar of honey. It's time to pack our bags now because we're off to the seaside for "Holidaymaker", a happy- go-lucky Pop song that's just as bright and sunny as the song title implies. Don't forget to pack the suntan lotion because this summer song is positively bursting with sunshine. We're in the King's court for "A Lesson Perhaps", although he's not a progressive Crimson King. No, this is a traditional Folky King in a quaint pastoral setting. This gentle melodic madrigal represents a charming acoustic spoken-word diversion in an album that's positively glowing and overflowing with radiantly cheerful Pop songs. And now we arrive at the magnificent highlight of the album, "The Sky Children", in a classic example of saving the best song till last. This marvellous closing song has instantly transformed what could have been a very good four-star album into a five-star masterpiece. It's eight minutes of pure unadulterated pleasure. The music is similar in style to the Byrds classic "Eight Miles High" - only better! The "Poptastic" lyrics are simply sensational. Take a look for yourselves:- "A million white flowers in a field in the sky, Seemed to spell out a greeting as the children flew by, A guard in a chariot of silver and gold, Gave the children all tickets, then the story he told, Of a time in the future that was sunshine and flowers, And the children grew sleepy in the sky's white towers, They dreamed of the story that the guard had displayed, They saw all the wonders, tiny minds were amazed, They saw candy forests and dragons that breathed fire, On all that was evil in the misty mire." ..... And that's just the first verse! There are six more incredible verses to come!! This beautiful music does indeed sound like "A million white flowers in a field in the sky." It's heavenly!

Travel back in time to the flower-power sounds of the late-1960's Summer of Love with this charmingly English album of glorious Sunshine Pop songs that's positively overflowing with cheerful exuberance and ebullient optimism. It's a psychedelic Kaleidoscope of glowing rainbow colours wrapped inside a beautiful Tangerine Dream!