TO SAMUEL A SON

Surprising how few reviews the two albums by The GODS have received. This band is best known for its members who later became involved in famous bands: keyboardist-guitarist Ken Hensley and drummer Lee Kerslake in Uriah Heep, bassist John Glascock in Jethro Tull. [Also one Greg Lake played in the Gods, but so briefly that he's not featured on the recordings. Furthermore, original guitarists Mick Taylor and Brian Jones found greater fame with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers and Rolling Stones, respectively.] The fourth man in the recording lineup is Joe Konas (guitar, vocals). Heep's main writer Hensley is naturally the most active song writer here, but also the others are credited on several songs. 14 of them in total, and the fresh Esoteric Recordings edition has both sides of the single 'Maria' as bonus tracks. Yeah, the famous song from West Side Story musical! And it works really nice.

The debut "Genesis" (1968) was quite a modest organ-heavy psych pop album with lousy production, and this album is a clear improvement. Harmony vocals, good keyboard parts (as well as cheesy ones), accessible songs of psychedelic pop or proto-prog, and the conceptual feel that harmfully doesn't function very well til the end. At least the fans of Uriah Heep probably wish for something more edgy and powerful. Some songs (e.g. title track, 'Five to Three', 'Autumn') have a nice, shadowy atmosphere but some others are just boring and outdated.

Not a bad album in the late sixties psych/proto-prog field, but not an essential listening unless you give extra value to the historic side of it. In that case the Esoteric Recordings edition (2013) is recommended. Hensley tells in the liner notes that he can still listen to this without being embarrassed. His songs are genreally better than Konas's or Kerslake's, whose 'Lovely Anita' is irritatingly bad way to end the original album.