FUCHSIA

Fuchsia only produced this one album, exploring the netherlands between folk, psych, prog and light classical. I enjoy the distinctly English flavour that saturates the disk, and the groundedness of the tunes and lyrics that favourably distinguishes this band from many of that era. I mean, a song called "Me and my Kite" about actually flying a kite..it doesn't get better than that as a slice of English whimsy without the smarminess of a Caravan or Stackridge.

The opener gets the listener involved at the outset with slam-dunked acoustic guitars, fascinating rhythms and the in-house strings section contributing to the general quirkiness. In addition, while Tony Durant dominates in the vocal department, Janet Rogets is allowed to contribute ethereal soli and wordless "ahs" to further the appeal of the song.

Everything here fits together quite well, with "The Nothing Song" being another particular highlight. My only real criticism of the album in general is that, in the end, there really isn't a classic track or a high impact piece, just a lot of nice at times interchangeable tunes that I might find myself humming, sometimes a little too often! But I am glad for the tiny legacy of this interesting and quirky yet easy listenin' band.