A YOUNG MAN'S GASH

In the land of Prog I rarely go to the shire of Kraut. I just don´t. To some extent I base this decision on bands of the genre I don´t particularily like, such as Brainticket or Amon Düül (II). It is sort of a shame and I have vowed to remedy this. Anyway, the fact that things are such as they are I have not come across Gash before. They are a new acquiantance to me. It is rare but in this case I fully agree with the people who already reviewed this album and I will tell you what I think about this album.

The sound of this band is not unique in any way. It balances between the blues-rock of early 70´s and progressive efforts of the same era. It´s rather crude and raw, yet able and competent. There´s alot of similarities to other organ based heavy groups of the era. A bit of Uriah Heep and a bit of Gift, maybe. You will not, I repeat "not", find anything groundbreaking on this album. In fact, you probably heard it a thousand times before. But, and there is a big but, that does not mean it lacks in enjoyable factors.

To start off an album with a ballad, that is not a good idea. Ever. An album, such as this hard prog beast, must fire all engines at once. The first track must blow your mind with energy and pathos. I wish they´d kicked things off with "In the sea" instead, That would have been a far better decision, especially since the track "Angel and mother" is severely cheezy and a very poor excuse for a ballad. As an artist you are exposed when it comes to ballads. You open yourself and show the tender side of your being. When things are this bad you stand their with both buttocks in the rain and that is not a good feeling.

The next track, "Twenty-one days", is hard blues-rock of the early 70´s. Heep-ish, I think. It´s not bad but leaves no lasting impression. "In the sea" leans more towards progressive rock and is quite a nice track. I like it and this is the song I enjoy most, I think. A good slab of heavy progressive rock.

The centerpiece is the three part suite "A young man´s gash". The first part is really enjoyable. The opening quire, the organ and the drive makes it a good piece indeed. Quite splendid. The second part is more of a sound collage and as a piece of something greater it works but on it´s own it fails to captivate me. The ending part is more reflective than the first one and holds a harmonica and some orchestration. It´s quite good, actually.

I would not encourage anyone to go to any lengths finding this album but if given the opportunity I do think one ought to have a listen. It´s funny, really, all these bands being stuck somewhere down the line. Competence and vision, yet unable to make any lasting impression. In the case of Gash I think they were just too unfocused or un- ready to make an album. In some cases, such as with the first Black Sabbath album, a lack of own material could be compensated with enthusiastic covers of other bands stuff. Maybe Gash would have benefitted from doing that too. At least they ought to have scrapped the awful ballad and gone for something else that fitted their overall repertoire or genre. The dice has been cast and no cigar this time around. The train has left the platform and the chips are poorly cooked. Gash is a footnote in history, though not all that bad. The end result is an album worthy of three stars.