ONE DAY A NEW HORIZON

A very good band from Chichester, UK, formed in 1977 as a studio duo by high-school friends keyboardist Rory Ridley-Duff (named simply Rory Duff around the time) and guitarist Steve Anscombe.In early-80's they were joined by drummer Neil Goldsmith and the track ''Flea'' was released on the Airship's compilation ''Seaside Rock''.The band started gigging with Nigel Rippon on bass, later helped by drummer Iain Carnegie when Goldsmith's interest in the project was waning, and in 1982 the debut ''One Day a New Horizon'' sees the light on Airiship, recorded only by Duff/Anscombe/Goldsmith without any bass guitar and pressed in the limited number of 250 copies.

The year and place of release always confuses Protos with the Neo Progressive Rock wave in the UK, but this band was actually less aggresive than any of the Neo bands with a very romantic and highly symphonic sound.Some flashy synthesizers by Duff bring to mind the early-80's British Prog sound, but the truth is that Protos used the guitar techniques of MIKE OLDFIELFD, the intense keyboard workouts of GENESIS and the symphonic grandieur of THE ENID, eventually to come up with a style close only to early QUASAR.Atmospheric Symphonic Rock with rapid changes between the instrumental keyboard passages and occasional guitar vibes with a melodic content.The production is far from top notch, but actually this is the charm of these early-80's British Prog rdcordings.The arrangements are mostly beautiful with alternation between lovely, romantic passages and keyboard-based bombastic themes, while the guitar of Anscombe colors the sound with an extreme beauty.

The album has been re-released on CD by the band some 25 years later with a pair of bonus tracks.It contains the early composition ''Flea'', more or less in the same style as the tracks of the original ''One Day a New Horizon'', atmospheric and virtuosic Symphonic/Electronic Rock, while the second one entitled ''Variations on a Theme by Iain Carnegie'' is originally contained in Rory Ridley-Duff's solo album ''Passing decades''.This is an instrumental OLDFIELD-ian attempt of Symphonic Rock mixed with New Age, much based on Duff's keyboards, with a great and elegant mood.

Fantastic band, that desrves some more fame.Intricate and perfectly composed Symphonic Rock in a hard period, albeit not quite original.Still highly recommended.