ARDOUR

A rather forgotten band from USA,this quintet hailed from Fort Wayne at the state of Indiana.ETHOS got lucky to be signed by Capitol Records and soon they moved to New York in order to record their first album.By the end of 1975 the work was almost ready and the eight arrangements of ''Ardour'' were all written by the leader of the band,vocalist/mandolin player/guitarist Will Sharpe.

''Ardour'' is the absolutely perfect example of balanced instrumentation and also an absolute heaven of instrumental interplays.While the band delivers an evident symphonic sound,the variety of instruments and the alternation of sounds,moods and tempos will leave you speechless.The sound of the band is a great mix of early-KING CRIMSON's cleverness and YES' complexity with touches of GENESIS and GENTLE GIANT.Will Sharpe's vocals are reminiscent of KING CRIMSON's Greg Lake,while Hammond delivers an amazing performance on mellotron,with the various flutes and strings blended with piano and organ creating a chaotic atmosphere.Stephenson's bass lines are complex and heavy in the vein of YES' Chris Squire and Sharpe's guitar parts are also in the path of YES' Steve Howe.The polyphonic vocal harmonies resemble to a bastardation of YES- and GENTLE GIANT-like harmonies,while some delicate organ/mellotron parts will remind you of GENESIS' Tony Banks.The musicianship is fantastic and all tracks are...what can I say...maybe the right term should be ''accesibly complex''!...I honestly love this album,which came as a total surprise to me...ETHOS were a US band,obviously influenced by the British acts of the time,who managed to refine their inspiration in a personal,amazingly-crafted and perfectly-composed LP!