Extraordinary… On many of the 10 tracks on this album, the female half of the band sounds just like Annie Haslam from Renaissance, and that’s no word of a lie – you really won’t believe it! Taking that analogy further, this sounds like what you’d imagine would have been the result if Renaissance had been more influenced by psychedelia than classical music. It’s still progressive, still with the quality that band had, but with more of a guitar base, instead of the keyboard presence Renaissance have, with strong drums and an almost bewitching quality to each of the songs. Ah yes, the songs – lyrically eloquent, telling some engaging stories and some that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on any of the classic Haslam-era albums. That said, Daleth deliver with more musical muscle – nothing heavy, just a feel that befits that certain psychedelic background from which it partially emanates. Overall, a really riveting set of songs, with a glorious female vocalist, stirring guitar work, great dynamics, and solid but not overpowering rhythms and ideas that never outstay their welcome. From fans of prog-rock to those of a female vocal-laced psych persuasion, this should capture your heart and no mistake – a fine album.

603699
Weight: 150.00 g

America’s leading Yes tribute band return with a stunning, excellent quality live album where they spend nearly two hours doing a set of classic Yes tracks that include ‘Ritual’, ‘Close To The Edge’, ‘Cinema’, ‘Siberian Khatru’, ‘Perpetual Change’, ‘Soon’, ‘And You & I’, ‘I’ve Seen All Good People’, ‘Yours Is No Disgrace’, ‘Roundabout’ and more. The band are hot throughout, keeping faithful to the arrangements but adding touches that give the compositions a bit of extra ‘zing’. The female vocalist bears an uncanny vocal similarity to Jon Anderson, thus ensuring that the important elements that make Yes such a unique band, are not in any way lost in the hands of a band such as this one. Authentic but adding a spirit to the tracks that makes them such a rewarding listening experience, this is an album that Yes fans will surely treasure for a long time to come.

719272
Weight: 250.00 g

Unbelievably, this is their seventh album, but there’s no let-up in the quality of the music and recording, as this set of instrumental compositions so exquisitely illustrates. The core line-up is guitars, bass, drums and keyboards, but extra tonal colour is provided by occasional violin, sax and flute. Musically there’s a mix of 70’s influences at work, including Brand X & Suntreader. With 5 tracks over fifty-three minutes, the 1^st is ‘That Thing On The Wall’, a quite sprightly piece with tasty work from all who play in her. The 2^nd is ‘Viable Tissue Matter’, a ten minute number taken at a slower pace, with flute, synth and guitar work to the fore, while the 3^rd one, ‘Partly The State’, spends the first part in equally reflective mode, until the guitar awakens and the composition sparks into fusion life, as the whole band propel it farther. With odd touches of vocals somewhere in the mix, this is possibly the most prog-rock sounding track I’ve heard the band perform. The 4^th track is a mix of reflective and jaunty, with some neat melodies coming and going. Overall, this is a warm, cohesive, satisfying progressive-fusion music album from a band whose work is so sadly underrated, and yet for whom this is another gem of an album.

782325
Weight: 150.00 g

Well, who’s it like then? “Genesis”, they cried with one voice. Or more the point, early Phil Collins style Genesis, on the grounds that the tracks, while between five and fifteen minutes long, are more sprightly and less overtly angst-ridden, the vocals being the more higher register of someone like Collins than the more intense tonsils of Peter Gabriel. Musically, these 6 tracks offer plenty of opportunity for the band to show what they are made of, as classic guitar-synth-driven prog rock passages appear with regularity, with complex time changes, tight rhythms and all. Why, there’s even a hefty dose of Yes–style harmony vocals and arrangements thrown in for good measure. For vintage prog-rock by a new band, it’s quality stuff for sure, and travelling the well-trodden prog-rock path with confidence, maturity and eloquence.

438000
Weight: 150.00 g

Who can remember this long deleted album then? It was a Sci-Fi concept album set in the future where the Intergalactic Touring Band were a unit given the task of watching over planets colonized by people from earth, where humans and alien beings had to coexist and form cultural relationships. It is came out on Charisma records in 1977 and immediately appealed to those who were getting into concept albums like ‘Tales Of Mystery And Imagination’ by the Alan Parsons Project, and later Jeff Wayne’s ‘War Of The Worlds’. This LP followed a very similar musical path, in that the concept was created and written by engineer/producer Wil Malone and Danny Beckerman who then brought in artists like Arthur Brown (Crazy World Of…/Kingdom Come), Dave Cousins (Strawbs), Rod Argent (Zombies/Argent), Annie Haslam (Renaissance), Anthony Phillips (Genesis), Francis Rossi & Rick Parfitt (Status Quo) and a whole host of others to provide vocals and additional musical support. The result was a very good album that became highly collectable. The selection of vocalists was excellent and the standard of playing and production was high. The album was instantly appealing to fans of earlier concept albums, featured top class musicianship and 14 strong tracks that ranged from atmospheric and infectious synthesizer based instrumentals, through to memorable progressive pop songs with catchy hooks, rock tracks with big guitar solos, and emotion filled and moving symphonic ballads. A quality album from start to finish, that really deserved to do better than it did when it was available on vinyl.

992664
Weight: 150.00 g