THE DANCER

After ISOTOPE broke up guitarist extraordinaire Gary Boyle decided to record a solo album and "The Dancer" is the result. Released in 1977 Gary gets lots of help from people like Robin Lumley (BRAND X) who not only plays on here but produced it, Dave MacRae (MATCHING MOLE, NUCLEUS), Morris Pert (BRAND X), Simon Phillips on drums who has played with so many bands and Rod Argent (ZOMBIES, ARGENT) and more.

"Cowshed Shuffle" is maybe my favourite, it just sounds so good and I think that's clavinet playing over the bass and drums although Argent is all over this with his mini-moog as well. Gary then takes the lead after 3 minutes and proceeds to rip it up. I like the electric piano on this one too. Before I go any further I think Simon Phillips is the one who impressed me the most on this album as he is just amazing on the drum kit. "The Dancer" is uptempo with so much going on as we get lots of intricate sounds including mini-moog, percussion, drums, clavinet and more. Guitar to the fore-front before 2 minutes and he's lighting it up. A bass solo before 3 minutes as drums pound. More aggressive guitar late. Maggia Pert added some vocal melodies on this one too. She's Morris' sister. "Now That We're Alone" is a short piano and bass piece. "Lullaby For A Sleepy Dormouse" is mid-paced with bass and drums as electric piano and guitar play over top in a relaxed manner.

"Almond Burfi" is uptempo with bass and drums out front. Guitar and synths arrive a minute in. Boyle is on fire after 2 minutes. A change 4 minutes in as the clavinet leads. "Pendle Mist" has sparse cymbals, bass, electric piano and guitar in this atmospheric intro. It's building until it sounds pretty amazing late. "Apple Crumble" is uptempo with bass, drums and electric piano as the guitar solos over top. "Maiden Voyage (For Brian Auger) is a Herbie Hancock cover and the fact it's dedicated to Brian Auger shouldn't be too surprising since it was Auger who Boyle recorded and played with a lot in the sixties. Auger introduced him to this style of music. They would listen to Miles Davis and would see Tony Williams live on more than one occassion all of which had a profound influence on the direction Boyle would go musically. This song has a nice solid sound as acoustic guitar joins in. Boyle turns to his electric though and becomes quite prominant.

This is a great album but I do prefer ISOTOPE especially their "Illusion" album.