PA's Top 100 Prog Albums, Year by Year

The album opens in bright and lively style with "I Am and So Are You", an intriguingly-titled song with these cryptic lyrics, "I am a singer of songs, A writer of wrongs, A dreamer of sighs, A hater of lies, so are you, And so are you."..... I am liking this song, and so will you. The song romps along in traditional 4/4 time with a solid brass section in accompaniment. Now get on board for, "Night Flight". It's the second-longest song on the albim, running at over 7 minutes long. It features these enigmatic lyrics, "My window looks out onto night and darkness comes, And birds in flight without a sound, Night is strange, My spirit floats out into space on silver wings, And joins the birds without a sound." ..... The song has a very melancholic and laid-back opening before bursting into life with impressive energy and vigour. Linda Hoyle's emotional vocals carry the song along on a flight of fancy with a powerful instrumental Jazz break halfway through the song, featuring some nifty finger-work on the Hammond organ. This stimulating number is sure to keep the listener entertained with it's constant changes of tempo and impressive vocals. Next comes "I Wonder If I'll Care As Much", a cover version of a little-known Everly Brothers song. This emotionally appealing, beautiful ballad really tugs at the heartstrings when Linda Hoyle passionately sings, "Last night I've cried myself to sleep, For the one that made me weep, I've dried my eyes to greet the day, I wonder why I had to pay." ..... It's often the saddest songs that are the best, and that's certainly the case here, and it represents one of the highlights of the album. After the sadness comes "Mr. Joy", a bluesy song to close out Side One with the refrain, "Mr Joy, He's a toy, You can wind him up, And he'll do anything you want him too." They're not exactly earth-shattering lyrics but Linda Hoyle sounds like she's really enjoying herself in this song with her breathless gasps and moans towards the end. It makes you wonder who or what "Mr Joy" actually is. The mind boggles...... And so, on to Side Two as we flip the album over and begin with "Three Sisters", a brassy up-tempo Jazz-Rock number to set those feet tapping and get the drinks flowing. Just try not to spill your drink though while you're dancing along to this bright and lively number. There's a change of pace now with the next song, "Coconut Grove", a gently laid-back acoustic cover version of the well-known Lovin' Spoonful song. You can lie back and put your feet up on the veranda and sip on a pina colada to really get into the spirit of this warmly melodic song. Now for the grand finale, a pulsating powerhouse performance of Bob Dylan's "All Along the Watchtower", which was of course made famous by Jimi Hendrix. This tremendous song has the unstoppable power of a runaway train and it's the perfect way to close out the album. This is eleven and a half minutes of raw power and sheer delight, so prepare to be amazed!

If you have an Affinity for some stimulating early-1970's British Jazz-Rock, then this is the album for you.

The "First Chapter: First Prophecy - First Oracle" opens forbiddingly to the haunting ethereal sound of Savarin's solo organ. The music has a very dark and doom-laden atmosphere with vocalist Cathy Pruden announcing ominously:- "Out of the cinnamon sky a face appears, Out of the tamarind byre, come darkest fears and the first prophecies." ..... The portentous doom and gloom ambience sounds very foreboding and it's enough to send a shiver up the spine and give you a touch of the heebie-jeebies, a bit like a well-known Bee Gees tribute band. The "Second Chapter: The Coming Of The Mule" is magnificent. Watch out though, because this is an angry mule with attitude! It's a vibrant keyboard piece featuring some outstandingly powerful guitar outbursts which kick like a recalcitrant mule. This incredible music picks up in pace midway through and thunders along to the finish-line like a runaway express train. The "Third Chapter: Phantom City" does indeed sound like a train rumbling along down the tracks at full-speed ahead. The pulsating music barrels along relentlessly with the wailing vocals of Cathy Pruden sounding like she's on some weird psychedelic acid trip. This express locomotive song is loaded with so much speed and incredible energy, you feel as if the "train" might be derailed at any moment. The "Fourth Chapter: The Black Tower" slows down the pace slightly, but there's still enough latent power and energy contained within this awesome music to illuminate a lighthouse with one million candle power. The powerful combination of Julian Jay Savarin's tremendous keyboards and Cathy Pruden's incredible vocal range are what really lifts this music into higher out-of-this-world realms. After all, this IS a science fiction themed album where the music sounds just as fantastic as the fantasy sci-fi storyline. The "Fifth Chapter: Alda, Dark Lady Of The Outer Worlds" is a magical mixed bag of tricks, featuring quiet and introspective keyboard pieces combined with wild dynamic outbursts of raw energy and power with Cathy Pruden's incredible vocals soaring right up into the stratosphere and beyond. In the words of Hawkwind, this stunning album debut represents "Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music! There's a complete change of pace for "The "Sixth Chapter: Altarra, Princess Of The Blue Women", a beautifully laid-back Jazzy number with some charming honey-coated vocals from Cathy. The haunting other-worldly music sounds like it could have come straight out of a 1960's sci-fi movie. This gorgeous music is simply sublime!

Side Two opens with the "Seventh Chapter: Second Prophecy - Second Oracle", a haunting piano and organ prelude with a dark foreboding atmosphere where Cathy Pruden ominously warns us again:- "Out of the cinnamon sky a face appears, Out of the tamarind byre, come no more fears." ..... Spooky! The "Eighth Chapter" is divided into two 3-minute parts:- "Part One: Twin Suns Of Centauri" and "Part Two: Alkon, Planet Of Centauri". Part One is a heavenly celestial organ piece with occasional dynamic outbursts of reverberating guitar. Part Two represents a complete contrast though, where the music suddenly bursts into life with latent energy and vigour and where Cathy's incredible vocals take us on a wild psychedelic acid trip across the universe. The "Ninth Chapter: The Terran" is a storming Jazz-Rock keyboard instrumental that thunders along at lightning speed. This is the kind of barrelling powerhouse Rock music that might inspire you to skip the light fandango, and turn cartwheels across the floor, although try not to do yourself an injury. The "Tenth Chapter: Fourth From The Sun" is obviously a reference to the planet Mars. It's another boisterous and rollickingly good Jazz-Rock number, but We all know by now there are no such things as Martians, but Cathy is convinced she's "The daughter of the fourth from the Sun" and who are we to argue? After all, this was 1970, long before probes landed on the surface of Mars and proved beyond reasonable doubt that we weren't going to have a War of the Worlds-style Martian invasion any time soon. The "Eleventh Chapter: Strange Things" takes us on a magical journey across time and space into another musical dimension. We're on a TARDIS (Time and Relative Dimension in Space) ride back in time to 1970 for an explosive rabble-rousing burst of high-energy Rock & Roll. Set the controls for the heart of the Sun, because we're coming to the end of our wild intergalactic ride across the universe now with the final "Twelfth Chapter: Epilogue - A Time Before This". This nine-minute-long stellar masterpiece is an ecstatic galactic, psychedelic pleasure trip back in time of truly epic proportions. This incredible album of Astounding Sounds, Amazing Music has gone into orbit and achieved instant five-star status with this fantastic out-of-this-world conclusion.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, came an album of such awesome brilliance, it shone like an exploding supernova. "A Time Before This" IS that album!

We're setting off at a marching pace with "Soldiers Three", which sounds like a traditional Folky drinking song for listening to whilst downing a pint and scoffing a ploughman's lunch down at the local tavern before we go merrily on our way. Just don't let the ploughman catch you eating his lunch. The next song "Murdoch" is nothing to do with the media mogul and newspaper tycoon. No, this song is all about Murdoch's Mountain (wherever that is), which sounds remarkably similar to the Fairport Convention classic, "Tam Lin", particularly in the descending chord sequence. Lead vocalist Celia Humphris sings in a higher register than Sandy Denny of Fairport though, sounding more like Jacquie McShee of Pentangle on this charming Folk album. Maybe this sound-alike song is part of the reason why some Fotheringport Confusion was caused amongst the jaded British music press, who unfairly labelled Trees as a poor man's Fairport Convention. "On the Shore" is so far turning out to be a jolly good Folk album in its own right. We're heading across the Irish Sea to the Emerald Isle next for "Streets of Derry". It's a traditional Folk song with a slow marching rhythm, but don't let that put you off, because there are some scintillating acid- tinged psychedelic guitar vibes in the instrumental bridge section in this seven-minute Psych-Folk excursion to the streets of Derry (also known as Londonderry). The next song "Sally Free and Easy" is a 10-minute-long cover of the classic Pentangle song and it's a real highlight of the album. The hauntingly-beautiful vocals of Celia Humphris are enough to send a shiver up the spine and bring you out in goosebumps in this ghostly spine-tingling refrain.

The opening to Side Two is all about a "Fool" by the name of Oswald the Smith, whoever he might be. It's a 5-minute-long Psych-Folk acid trip. bathed in glowing psychedelic guitar colours, where Celia's normally high-pitched vocals drop a whole octave. This is where Trees get to display their very unconventional psychedelic Folk feathers and prove they're not just another carbon copy of Fairport Convention. It'd be no fool's errand to go out and buy this album. There's a brief acoustic guitar interlude now for "Adam's Tune" which leads us nicely into "Geordie", a traditional Folk song given the very untraditional Trees treatment of jangling psychedelic guitars combined with Celia's magnificently soaring vocals. There's no happy ending for the "Geordie" of the title though, because it's a dark and sinister tale of a man being hung for a crime he didn't commit, so it's too late to launch an appeal for clemency. It's time to strike "While the Iron is Hot" for our next Trees song, which opens deceptively as a traditional Folky number, but branches out into some wild Psychedelic Rock excursions. It's all Stetsons and cowboy boots next, because it's time now for a traditional country and western sing-along with "Little Sadie", a song which conjures up an image of a lively square-dance at a country hoe-down, so take your partner by the hand, and dance to the music of the band. Yee-hah! There's a return to some more traditional Folk music for our final song: "Polly on the Shore". This is one of the more conventional Folk songs on the album which most resembles the music of Fairport Convention, although being compared with the best English Folk-Rock band of all time can never be a bad thing.

Trees have branched out and explored the colourful psychedelic realms of Acid Folk with this unconventional second album. They're often compared to Fairport Convention, which is no bad thing, but Trees have carved their own particular niche in the vast forest of Folk bands, so you may wish to dip your toes into the rippling musical waves to be heard "On the Shore" before the tide comes in. You won't be disappointed. There's a whole wood-shed full of great songs to be heard on this album.

The album opens with the proggy-titled song "Tread Softly on My Dreams", but there's no chance of falling asleep and dreaming your way through this stormy album opener. There's a dreamy Mellotron to be heard in the background, but right at the forefront is a powerful horn section, so we're in for a good solid dose of some mean and moody blues with a bold and brassy Jazz-Rock attitude. The music of Czar has the same pounding intensity as those other kings of prog, King Crimson, and this tremendous opening song has obvious parallels with "21st Century Schizoid Man". Both songs represent a dramatic and unforgettable storm and thunder entry into the wonderful world of Progressive Rock. Just when you thought it can't get any better, it does!! The second sensational song "Cecelia" is a Mellotron-drenched classic. This Symphonic Prog epic is guaranteed to send any self-respecting prog fan into paroxysms of ecstasy and delight. If music be the food of love, then this is delicious manna from heaven sent down to Earth from the Prog Gods above in all of their infinite glory and wisdom. Heavens above! How on Earth did Czar not come to rule over the prog kingdom, forever and ever, amen, instead of disappearing without trace after just one awesome album!?? Such are the vagaries of the music business, where incredible talent doesn't always guarantee enduring success. Oh well, back to the music at hand after that minor digression. The third song on what's turning out to be a pretty amazing album is "Follow Me". This is another exhilarating artillery barrage of pounding percussive energy that Czar have unleashed from their impressive arsenal. It's a sonic boom of invigorating keyboard-driven prog that barrels along relentlessly for three and a half incredible minutes. It's also a very commercially appealing tune with "Hit Song" written all over it and would have no doubt gone storming up the charts if the song had ever been released as a single. The wonderfully uplifting harmonies on this album deserve a mention too, because they quite simply have to be heard to be believed, as no words can possibly do justice to how magnificent they are.

With the dawning of Side Two comes "Dawning of a New Day", and what a day it's turning out to be! The mighty Czar rules again over the prog empire with another terrific song! The stupendous songs on this album are so outstanding that almost every sentence deserves an exclamation mark!! This is one of those sensational Prog-Rock songs that opens deceptively gently, but gradually builds up in intensity, emerging into a rousing and anthemic, full-blown symphonic epic that will send you up into prog heaven on a soaring crescendo of sound! Space: the final frontier! It's time to boldly go where no man has gone before, because Czar are ascending up into the heavens now with "Beyond the Moon". The marvellous long-lost legends of prog are taking us on a wondrous journey far beyond the dark side of the Moon and out into the realms of deep space for some stellar Prog-Rock that's quite literally out of this world. This dazzling song shines as brilliantly as an exploding supernova for a few brief awesome minutes. It's not just the fabulous music that's awe-inspiring though, the stellar lyrics are gloriously cosmic too:- "Under the stars that we have traveled afar, Without song in our eyes and the rain and the wind in our hair, Starry-eyed faces from deep in the nigh, Without food without thought without even a glimpse of a life." ..... It's prog, Jim, but not as we know it. Drifting gently back down to Earth now, we arrive just in time for "Today", a gorgeous symphony of sound floating on topographic oceanic waves of Mellotron-drenched melodic prog. This truly beautiful Mellotronic epic has all of the magnificent Moody Blues majesty and symphonic splendour of "Nights in White Satin". Yes, it really IS that good! After "Today" it's mostly autumn now for "A Day in September", a radiant song which is positively abounding with joy and optimistic hope for the future, so one presumes it's an indian summer on this particular day in September. This glorious closing number is like a brilliant burst of sunshine on what is an altogether stellar album of fantastic songs.

The Czars were once the awesome rulers of the mighty Russian empire up until the Russian Revolution in 1917, and the band Czar were the rulers of the once mighty kingdom of prog for their one brief shining moment in the spotlight in 1970, or at least, they should have been..... The history of prog is littered with unique one-off album treasures that have become lost in the mists of time, and Czar were to suffer the same fate as many short-lived one-album bands of the late 60's and early 70's era. Thanks to the modern wonder of the Internet though, the band Czar are set to rise again and take the prog kingdom by storm, hopefully. Czar is an absolute must-have album that's worthy of a hallowed place in every Prog-Rock collector's treasure chest.