Prog Britannia - Album Reviews

Time now to see whether Ithaca is a Greek island of musical treasures or whether it's as dodgy as a Greek bearing gifts. Our journey begins with "Journey" appropriately enough. Shhhhh! It's a VERY quiet beginning. Prepare to be taken on a magic carpet ride with some lovely harmonising from the three singers, because this is beautiful English Folk music at its melodic best, with a slice of prog thrown in for good measure to spice things up. If you're familiar with the trio's previous Agincourt album from 1970, then you'll know you're in for another real treat. Our journey continues with "Questions", and there's no question that this is sublime English Folk music. Just let the music gently carry you away to a land of dreams as you listen late at night in bed with the lights turned down low. Don't forget to let the cat or dog out before you go to bed though, because this gorgeous pastoral Folk music will put you in such a relaxed frame of mind that you won't feel like getting up again. Now we arrive at "Times", the longest song on the album at over 8 minutes long. It's really two shorter songs in one though, as there's a complete change of pace midway through, beginning with a gentle ballad and emerging like a butterfly into a bright and breezy poppy number. This lovely music is enough to make you long for the warm summer days again, especially if you're listening to this album on a damp and dark November day. And now we come to "Feelings", another 2-part song, combining a ballad and a lively up-tempo number. This beautiful song is sure to inspire feelings of joy that you were lucky enough to discover this long-lost album treasure, nearly 50 years after its release. Onwards now dear friends to "Dream", with the charming and delightful lead vocals of Lee Menelaus. What a voice! Her sweet and gentle voice is perfectly suited to this charming music. And now we come to the final song on the album and the title track "A Game for All Who Know" (subtitled "Journey - Part II). The song begins intriguingly with the sound of pages turning and a swirling synth and acoustic guitar. It's a song full of mystery and imagination. There's the sound of a rocket taking off and then a reprise of the opening number of the album with the hauntingly atmospheric sound of an organ carrying the song through to its conclusion. It's idyllic, it's bucolic, and it may even be soporific, but not in a bad way. At 7 minutes long, it's a song of almost epic proportions, or as epic as a Prog-Folk song can be. It might not have the pomp and bombast of a blast of Symphonic Prog, but it's none the worse for that. After all, you may have drifted off into a sleep of blissful dreams by this stage, so you don't want to be woken up with a start, although the song does end rather abruptly, so be prepared!

Thanks to ProgArchives, YouTube & the Internet, this long-lost album treasure is now gaining some of the recognition it truly deserves. It's a charming pastoral Folk album with timeless appeal that you can come back to again and again. It's not essential if you're into Prog-Rock, but it IS essential if you want to hear a sublime slice of 1970's English Prog-Folk at its absolute best.

  1970: Jan Dukes de Grey - Sorcerers - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_lcCuBvTWwNmzn80qxq7mMM44-oLSmj4x8

  1971: Jan Dukes de Grey - Mice and Rats in the Loft - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgQvFbGmK0E

  2010: Jan Dukes de Grey - Strange Terrain - http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kDS9cVQygWx6G9W52jujoxVZ1glj82qJM

The outlook for "Sun Symphonica" is for bright and sunny spells of long pastoral flute passages with occasional outbreaks of classically-inspired orchestral showers. Just as the song title implies, "Sun Symphonica" is a radiant sunburst symphony of sound, featuring flutes, clarinets, saxophones, harmonicas, violins and hyperactive percussion in abundance. It's very bold and brassy, but it's also very sophisticated and classy, mainly due to the ornate chamber music from the orchestra. Some of the exotic musical passages sound faintly middle eastern, conjuring up bizarre images of a Turkish bazaar where one is expected to haggle over the price of a carpet, whilst the vendor puffs away calmly on a hookah pipe. The music is a veritable potpourri of musical styles, combining pleasant strolls through golden meadows of woodwinds amidst glorious showers of lush strings and vibrant percussion. The song as a whole is a very pleasant confection that's as sweet and exotic as a box of Turkish Delights.

The next song "Call of the Wild" is nothing to do with wolves barking at the moon. No, this is more of a call of the wild in human terms with the lyrics apparently advocating free love and a freeing of the spirit:- "I will be free to sleep where I want and with who and what I will." ..... If the promiscuous lyrics are anything to go by, the northern town of Leeds in the seventies was just as footloose and fancy free as proverbial swinging London in the sixties, so maybe it's not so grim up north after all. The music is pretty wild and swinging too, consisting mainly of lively bursts of infectious fluty Folk blended together with a liberal dose of saxophonic jazz in a musical tour de force. Think of Jethro Tull combined with Soft Machine, and that's the kind of Jazzy Psych-Folk you have here.

And now we come to the title track: "Mice and Rats in the Loft". If you really DO have mice in the loft, here's a handy hint: mice absolutely love chocolate, far more than cheese, so if you want to catch mice humanely, just bait the walk-in trap with some hot chocolate powder and they'll be queuing up to get into the trap and the trapdoor will close behind them. You can then let them out later in a rodents version of the "Catch and Release" program. Anyway, back to the music after that brief digression. This is where the musicians really get to let their hair down and go off on an improvisational free-for-all. The wacky over-the-top singer sounds like he's on a mad LSD trip here and the weird psychedelic Jazz sounds as wild and crazy as bats in the belfry, or mice and rats scampering about in the loft.

Jan Dukes de Grey appear to have invented a whole new genre of music with their unique "Mice and Rats in the Loft" album. The music can best be described as Psychedelic Jazz-Folk. Sometimes, the music is rousing and spectacular, and sometimes it's pleasant and pastoral, and maybe it's even weird and wonderfully zany at times too, but it's NEVER dull.