OMEGA

A hybrid between Jane and Barclay James Harvest, Omega was pretty much all you got from Hungary before Solaris came along. Accomplished musically, they were somewhat heavy handed here in the early going. At least three of the songs are pretty basic rockers with driving beats, tandem singing, and various solos, with very little in the way of progressive inspiration. But this is not the case on "After a Hard Year" and "White Magic Stone", which feature stronger melodies and harmonies, not to mention rich mellotron accompaniment. It is here that they sound more like Harvest era BJH than anything else. A worthy blueprint, and enough to whet the appetite for more, but the preponderance of plod rock keep this Omega from being an Alpha effort.