1975 Orig DRUID THE SUN MELLOTRON PROG

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      GRAND MELLOTRON SYMPHONIC PROGRESSIVE ROCK

                            1975 UK ORIGINAL

                         DRUID

           = TOWARD THE SUN =

\                                                      UK - EMI RECORDS - EMC 3081

MINTY CLEAN....Original British 1975 first pressing in beautiful textured phantasy cover by rated progressive band who made two collectible albums in which fans of sophisticated symphonic rock should investigate...

Druid's  "Towards The Sun" is an acclaimed symphonic LP with mellotrons, by a expressive and creative progressive rock band named DRUID. In 1975 they released their first-LP "Towards The Sun" and a year later a second album entitled "Fluid Druid". Towards The Sun is their best: fluent and melodic songs, layered with Mellotron, often in combination with sensitive electric guitar work. The echoes from YES are obvious: lots of vocal harmonies, a Chris Squire-like bass, WAKEMANesque keyboards and even the soft vocals like Jon Anderson...laced with sympathetic instrumentation like atmospheric guitars, 'flutes' and lush keyboards, all neatly wrapped in a Symphonic Prog overcoat of more adventurous instrumental passages.

Any symphonic progressive rock album must have a solid foundation of good songs, and Toward The Sun's songs are good to excellent. The songwriting is first class with some lovely tunes and lyrics which 'sound right'. There is even a common theme spread throughout the album - dreams and dreaming: from the "long nights' dreams" of opener Voices; remembering them and "understanding every word they say" in Remembering; disillusioned and asking "whatever happened to the dream, should we still listen to the meaning" in Toward The Sun; finally to "sail away" to Shangri-La "there I'll find my dreams, and some day I'll return when the world has changed".

Dane's guitar playing is exemplary without being unduly flashy, producing a number of luscious understated solos. Brewer's Rickenbacker is well to the fore, splattering the songs with that trademark sound. The album is also awash with lush keyboards, including Hammond organ and Mellotron and the odd synth. All instruments meld together quite naturally to produce a full and balanced sound, never sounding forced or out of place. Even better are the arrangements: always interesting and involving; always developing without ever getting too far off the road; full of light and shade.

Shangri-La is the undisputed star of the show, a magnificent ten minute tour-de-force of melodic Prog with everything you could wish for: Mellotron and acoustic guitars; wonderful varied harmonies from Dane; one or two little proggy bridge sections; a change of pace to inject a lift via a short instrumental; a false ending; and a rousing finale complete with choir. All this is based on a majestic multi-segmented song which progresses quite seamlessly before returning to its opening melody. This is one of those songs that worms its way into your head and stays there.

The other stand-out songs, shorter but from the same mold, are the title track Toward The Sun and Remembering -- both are nevertheless very high quality songs. Remembering is the more Proggy of the two, with some instrumental contrasts, while Toward The Sun relies on a simpler structure which builds to an abrupt ending. Both Voices and Dawn Of An Evening are excellent examples of fundamentally standard soft rock core songs augmented and lifted by inventive arrangements and surrounding instrumental passages, though Voices is the most derivative song here.

1. Voices (8:14)
2. Remembering (5:24)
3. Theme (5:26)
4. Toward the Sun (5:08)
5. Red Carpet for an Autumn (3:09)
6. Dawn of Evening (10:03)
7. Shangri-La (10:08)

CONDITION: The Cover: beautiful textured fantasy scape in MINT condition, the fragile delicate UK production has no flaws and been in good hands ,,,no split seams, no bends, no writing...

The Vinyl: all glossy clean and clear over both sides M- looks and plays CLEAN with no problems... 

      A cool addition to anyone's music library!

SEE: SELLERS OTher items for similar cool sounds for "head" people...

EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING

All imperfections are noted both cover & record