ENDANGERED

As I continue to review comeback albums after "raising a family" absences, I couldn't help noticing that one of EPIDAURUS' children has posted their 1996 "Endangered" album in its entirety on youtube. Well, at least it must be a relative because of the following statement: "The first album of Epidaurus and this One are gems of Symphonic Prog and essential for every collector of Prog rock." Perhaps the only truth in all of this lies in the term "collector", as in only a German symphonic prog completist could procure this drivel and not feel cheated, provided they never listened to it of course.

Let me hasten to add that even the band's debut fell somewhat short of high end jewelry status, but it offered enough moments between elegant instrumentals and Christiane Wand's vocals to be accorded due reverence for their contributions to that creative epoch. Here we have a lazy pop cum disco album with occasional symphonic and electronic arrangements that at best ("Tonight", "October 1919") remind me of countrymen P'COCK but not even to that level, and at worst (pretty much everything else but especially "Seed in Your Heart"), would not pass for filler on RENAISSANCE's awful archive album "Songs from Renaissance Days", which was basically an album of also rans. If one might occasionally be inclined to hum "By the Wayside" or "without You", that's just more in the realm of self immolation than anything resembling a compliment.

So here we have it, a species which should be endangered, an album with essentially no audience and no redeemability, and cruel punishment of a band's modest legacy.