SIGNS OF CHANGE

By 1977, ATF had been in existence for the better part of a decade and accumulated an impressive canon of Christian oriented progressive rock, at least in quantity. It is telling that the bonus material included on the CD reissue is of equal quality to that which appeared on the original LP release, and doesn't sound much different either.

This is heavily organ dominated music, being the main instrument in essentially every song, with just a few dollops of synthesizer and few places where guitars are cut loose. While Peter Banks can claim Keith Emerson as influence, the overall effect of ATF is far more grounded than ELP, more a la Deep Purple by way of proto prog acts like Beggars' Opera. Most tracks contain a hook or two that makes them mildly interesting, and some less convincing jamming. Other than a few near-Celtic numbers, most of the songs are interchangeable, with perhaps the best being "Back to the Light" and "Dreamaway". It is not hard to see how they could not find a backer for their recording in 1977, as by then the best of this style, which assuredly does not include ATF, was already passe.

Mostly of interest as a lost link between prog and new wave, and admittedly for aficionados of non stop organ (even Procol Harum knew how to give it a rest sometimes), "Signs of Change" is thus aptly named, and represents an argument for devolution of prog into new wave while bypassing the fire of punk. Bring on "Der Komissar".