AUDIENCE [AKA: THE FIRST ALBUM]

[This will be a review for the 30th anniversary of this, Audience's self-titled debut (1999), featuring the 3 bonus tracks mentioned herein.]

Considered here on PA "Eclectic Prog", Audience were a UK band contemporary to other quick-to-the-draw early Proggers such as VdGG, Man, Affinity and Family; experimenting with song structures and various un-Rock sounds and instruments. Due, I believe, to some suggestion, likely from the wonderful Dereck Higgins, I had begun my trip into Audience's discography with 1971's The House on the Hill.

"Banquet" starts us off in a most bucolic way before rapidly bounding off into loudness. Fantastic rhythm section, from the warm, bouncing tone of the bass to the clanging of the drums. To my happy ears, what a great opening track to introduce their band to the world! A bit Hard Rock, a bit R&B and a tastefully artsy approach. "Poet" follows in a more definite pastoral way, with acoustic guitar and soft fluting. This track strikes me as lightly Roots Rock? A sort of countryside Americana in these bones? We return to surely English shores on "Waverley Stage Coach", no? There is some harmonica, reminding us of our American-Rock roots. Nice, classic track; at times reminding me of the Stones.

Then onto what I feel is lightly Beatles-esque, at least at first, "Riverboat Queen" continues in this Folk-Roots-Rock mix. Howard Werth, our lead vocalist, has quite the delivery. Not quite nasally; it's hard for me to place, though in its uniqueness, I quite like it. Sort of like a lost Brother Gibb. The final moments have these soft, though darting strings underneath other more or less unusual instrumentation. Truly, Roots Rock continues, though it were The Band or Van Morrison, on the rolling, bright "Harlequin". I think this was a very good track, but saxophonin' aside, I'm wary to call it "progressive". More groove and a heavier hand is involved on the next, "Heaven Was An Island". Phenomenally strong start. Super groovy, in fact, and a tad bluesy. There is definitely something Family-ish with this one, or perhaps it's early Jethro Tull. Vocally, again, like Van Morrison to my ears. Geeze-Louise! This saxophone solo is cool as sh*t! Absolutely nasty playing...

Huge shift toward Rock 'n Roll, like more than I was ready to handle, on "Too Late I'm Gone". Lucky for my precious ears(/s), it does take a sort of fun Dixieland turn throughout. It does rock pretty hard, too, specifically in its middle, featuring a sort of horn-meets-Wurlitzer(?) bridge section. Some may find this terribly annoying; some may be utterly shocked how much this little track is actually quite enjoyable, as I did haha. We get tossed back into a dark, gloomy reality of who I, and maybe you, thought Audience was on "Maidens Cry". A softer, fluted number. Only amount of interest it provided me was a shift to sax from flute. Who then was doing the sort of orchestral thing we find on "Pleasant Convalescence" before ELO? The proto-ELO The Move? The other proto-ELO band The Idle Race?! The wonderful Blossom Toes? Not so sure about that last one... Anyways, I loved this track. Fantastic post-Psych, early-Prog track. Oh man! And then the natural transition into "Leave It Unsaid"!!! Yeehaw!!! Talk about heavy without your normal Metal or Hard Rock instrumentation. Great vocals, and awesome instrumentation all around, including a... some kinda organ solo?! Hard to place what the hell I'm hearing, but I am so down! Post-solo, it shifts into some nice acoustic guitar and reeds interplay. This is definitely some great early Prog. So much going on. Best track? [Definitely.]

As we approach the close of the original release, we have the Psych-Folk of "Man On Box". This one has some lovely, light malletwork, too. Everything is working phenomenally together. Warm rhythm section matched with bright, almost Eastern-rooted keys and acoustic guitar. Pretty unique, I feel. Finally, we have "House On The Hill", a damn cool song. Remarkably familiar to me, as this was redone with a much longer rendition off of the later album of the same name. This is a great track. It has strutting guitar and bass, and that Champman-esque vocal warble I recall from that later version. Soloing here is saxophone heaven haha. Good God... So cool. All I can say right now is that the backend of this album is far stronger than what came before it.

For bonus material, we have "Paper Round" (a super playful track which turns Floyd-level dark), and two short numbers, "The Going Song" at nearly 2 minutes (apparently performed live) and the silly, again Dixieland, "Troubles" at just over 1.

True Rate: 3.5/5.0

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