TOWARD THE SUN

As happened with some many other prog bands in the 70's, Druid is no more than another one relatively obscure progressive band from the 70's with a very short life. And also as happened with some many of their contemporaries, they were also strongly influenced by some of the major prog acts in those days. In this case, the sound of Druid was notably influenced by Yes. That influence became so evident that they were even accused to be a true clone of Yes.

So, Druid was a 70's progressive rock band from England. Formed in 1971 by the old schoolmates Dane Stevens and Cedric Sharpley, along with the local bass player Neil Brewer, Druid spent years playing in clubs as a trio before winning a competition by Melody Maker. At this point they added Andrew McCrorie-Shand, a recent London College of Music graduate. The Melody Maker prize included new instruments and a recording contract, and their eponymous debut album appeared in 1975. The band had a difficult time due to Yes' soundalikes. In fact, Druid was an opening act at a number of Yes' concerts. The Yes comparison, though an obvious one, isn't entirely accurate. While Dane's vocals are clearly styled after Jon Anderson and Neil Brewer's bass has the classic pick-driven Rickenbacker associated with Chris Squire, the rest of the band departs from that formula. McCrorie-Shand's unadorned keyboard parts, for example, have little in common with the lavishly baroque flash of Rick Wakeman or the martial Hammond pounding of Tony Kaye.

Druid had excellent instrumental skills and all the right moves for a symphonic progressive rock band, like swirling Mellotron and organ, sweeping tasty analogue synths, thundering Rickenbacker bass and some of the highest falsetto vocals ever heard from a progressive rock band. Their music often sounded like a softer and more folk influenced version of Yes. Their song writing, which isn't really as good as the song writing of Yes, was very decent and I feel very comfortable with it. But, above all, their nice very accomplished and atmospheric sound made up for some of it, surely.

'Toward The Sun' is the debut studio album of Druid and was released in 1975. The line up on the album is Dane Stevens (vocals and guitars), Andrew McCrorie-Shand (keyboards), Neil Brewer (bass) and Cedric Sharpley (drums). 'Toward The Sun' has seven tracks. The first track 'Voices' is a perfect opener for the album which goes after a dynamic and Yes' intro into a melodic section, which is dominated by the melancholy vocals of their front man Dane. It contains some downright smoking instrumental sections, though it's probably the most complicated playing that Druid ever did. The second track 'Remembering' offers almost sugar sweet vocal harmonies. Here we have again some delicate Mellotron passages recorded. It builds slowly and beautifully with some more amazing and slow leads towards the end. The third track 'Theme' unites as an instrumental title all already mentioned the qualities of the band. It's based around rather nondescript melody and jam section, but is a very enjoyable piece, nonetheless. The guitar playing is very melodic and is in no way comparable with the filigree string processing of Steve Howe. The fourth track is the title track. It nicely blends. The parts are so nicely layered here that you must like it, if you just love beautiful music. Yes, the Mellotron is truly ubiquitous with Druid, as happen with the title track. Therefore, with 'Toward The Sun' every Mellotron fan can feel it in his heart. The fifth track 'Red Carpet For An Autumn' is a very short piece based on a simple but haunting sequence on piano with some great singing. It's a very nice feather in the cap, just a nice solo piano melody for a bit until the vocal and Mellotron pick it up. The sixth track 'Dawn Of Evening' has a beautifully positioned Mellotron carpet that creates a magical atmosphere and the rumbling bass provides the right dynamics. It's another strong piece which takes a clever but understated chord sequence that starts out quietly and unnoticeably but builds into something quite intense. The second half of the track is a little less interesting though. The seventh track 'Shangri-La' distinguishes itself as one of the best. There's 3-4 minute of strength at the end of that track where the band finally stumbles upon a few genuinely catchy progressions. It's a pleasant and ambitious piece that ends the album nicely.

Conclusion: In my humble opinion and all in all, 'Toward The Sun' is a very nice symphonic progressive rock album from the 70's. If you don't have any problem with high vocals and don't deny the right to live in the beautiful tunes of the progressive rock, but above all, if you have no problems with the strong Yes' influence on Druid, 'Toward The Sun' could be a real pleasure to listen to. Druid belongs somehow to the same league as England and Starcastle. With this album which is dreamy, nostalgic and sad-beautiful, Druid proves an incredible sense of tune that touches. Maybe it's not as original as it should be and it's perhaps a little derivative in places. Still, I like it very much and I really think that it deserves to be heard. Anyone who considers Yes among his favourites and not only expects the band to perform works like 'Close To The Edge' or 'Gates Of Delirium', should definitely have Druid tested it. It's highly recommended.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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