THINGS TO COME

Post-Fungus Enbglish keyboards/drums duo, led by Ken Elliot and Kieran O'Connor.Both have worked together in the Psychedelic Rock band Second Hand and its natural continuation Chillum, who had a more experimental sound.It was a while the two musicians hadn't worked together and Seventh Wave started actually as a project of experimenting with keyboards and drums.After a single under the Fungus moniker, Elliot and O'Connor renamed themselves to Seventh Wave and were signed by Decca's branch label Gull.O'Connor was also responsible for the production of their first album ''Things to come'', co-produced by Neil Richmond and released in 1974.

The sound of Seventh Wave flirts both with the GENESIS-style Symphonic Rock and the pompous synth-drenched Prog of acts like SYMPHONIC SLAM and STARDRIVE with strong Electronic agitations but also showers of romantic textures.Elliot performs on various keyboards including Mellotron, synthesizers, electric piano and clavinet, while O'Connor offers his strong work on percussion, drums, xylophones, cymbals and bells.While the album is split in fourteen short pieces, it often flows as a single solid piece with different variations under a strong orchetral/Electronic atmosphere.The vocals have a definite YES flavor, while musically the album is dominated by its evident symphonic and Classical tendencies through the cinematic keyboard waves, ranging from monumental TONY BANKS-like moog synth textures to BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST-like haunting, orchestral washes.The abscence of bass/guitars is overpassed through the use of dual and triple keyboard themes and the use of an orchestral bass drum by O'Connor.The musicianship is pretty consistent, although some commercial tastes is usually present, with emphatic symphonic moves, spacey Electronic soundscapes and a few lovely melodies in a GENESIS style.The impressive sound of xylophones and cymbals make Seventh Waves' approach very cinematic and thus even more charming.

Very nice, overlooked album of gransiose keyboard-based Progressive Rock with dominant symphonic inspirations.Balanced between melodious and more bombastic parts, it can please all fans of 70's-styled Prog music with a slight preference on well-worked keyboard lines.Recommended.