BEYOND THE BEYOND

Fantasy's second album, Beyond the Beyond (or Beyond the Beyond Plus as the most commonly available version is dubbed) was originally recorded in 1974, but was canned for nearly two decades before it was brought to disc by Audio Archives. As a result, it's been the recipient of the sort of legend-building which long-unreleased albums tend to experience, though not to an outrageous extent. Though I'd say their preceding album, Paint a Picture, is just a shade better than this, it's a neck and neck race for sure, so if you enjoyed their update of the proto-prog sounds of their forerunners on their debut you'll probably enjoy it here too. On top of that, synthesisers (especially the stately Mellotron) are given a bit more prominence here, with David Metcalfe borrowing a little more from then-current strands of prog to help update the band's sound somewhat.