TOWARD THE SUN

Together with STARCASTLE, DRUID's sound ensured they were instantly labelled as derivative, indeed almost a tribute band of YES. In reality, with Druid it is the vocals of the singularly named Dane and to a lesser extent the bass playing of Neil Brewer which encourages the comparisons.

The opening track, "Voices" certainly contains "Close to the edge" like lyrics and structures, but the instrumental passages tend to be more RENAISSANCE than Yes, such is the symphonic feel and quasi-orchestration of the mellotron. Dane can be rather ambitious with the high vocals, occasionally sounding like the already high pitched JON ANDERSON after an intake of helium. The following "Remembering" shows that he is more comfortable when creating multi-tracked harmonies, where he veers in the direction of CROSBY STILLS and NASH. This gentle ballad has a couple of stings in the tail along the way.

The instrumental "Theme" has strong hints of FOCUS during its keyboards drenched 5 minutes. There does however appear to be some uncredited sax prior to the AKKERMAN inspired guitar solo. The title track forms the play-out track of side one of the LP. The "stand on hills.." lyrics and distinct melodies betray once again the band's affection for all things Yes, but in the words of our esteemed member Maani, they could perhaps have made a little effort to "filter" those influences a bit more.

The brief "Red carpet for autumn" dreamily opens side two, moving seamlessly into the 10 minute "Dawn of evening". The opening section here is "I get up I get down" and "heart of the sunrise" rolled into one. Unfortunately, the vocals on this track are the poorest on the album. Another 10 minute piece, "Shangri-la" closes the album. This soft, lyrically intense, piece swims in mellotron but tends to drift along without ever really finding a focus.

It is a pity Druid were tarred with the clone band epithet, as there was far more to them in terms of both creativity and ability than they were given credit for. That they were labelled in that way though is largely attributable to their willingness to borrow heavily from the most distinctive aspects of the music of Yes. Nevertheless this is a fine album, with strong melodies, and proficient performances throughout.

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