COUNTERPOINTS

This album belongs to the category of the most overlooked prog albums ever! It's a nearly perfect classic progressive rock specimen in all respects; the quality of the music and performance can rival recordings by Yes, Genesis and ELP. Some influence of Chick Corea can also be heard, but that is a good thing - if you like fusion as much as I do. There is all the complexity, lyricism and unpredictability of good old symphonic prog, combined with some of the most amazing vocals and playing I've ever heard - Rod Argent's keyboard chops are absolutely superlative, either on Mellotron, Hammond, Rhodes or the Moog. Grimaldi is equally endowed on the guitar, and the combination is sometimes explosive. Some tracks are arranged in suites - you are not sure where one ends and the other begins. So why was this album overlooked by the prog community? Probably because it came out a bit late in the game, in 1975. If it came out a few years earlier, it would get the attention that it deserves.