MAINHORSE

I had never heard of this one off album until a friend showed me a few days ago. It seems that its only claim to fame is the fact that Mainhorse was the vinyl debut of a young Patrick Moraz. And it shows: his organ laying is definitely the highlight of this CD. This Swiss band (actually, half Swiss, since two members were englishmen) played a kind of heavy prog quite common at the time, so it is little wonder why it made no impact at all at the musical scene of the period. Please, don´t get me wrong: the music here is quite good, with obvious influences of early Deep Purple, Traffic and Atomic Rooster. On the odd side we have a bass player who also plays cello on some parts.

Although the compositions have nothing too original it is interesting to see the band had real potential to grow, since that sometimes their arrangements are clever and outstanding, showing how far they could go if they stayed together e improved their sound. But, alas, this was not meant to be. So what was left is a good heavy prog album with a few hints of symphonic rock. All the musicians are good and the production is adequate for the time. Moraz does a fine job sounding a lot like Vincent Crane. There are no fillers to be found. The best track is the 10 minute Pale Sky, a real gem.

If you like those aforementioned bands, you can go no wrong with this one. Mainhorse was a fine band that never had the chance to live up to their promising start. But the album is well worth to have it.

Rating: 3.5 stars.