THIS IS ... GRACIOUS !!

This second album is much better than their debut , for they have corrected one of the flaws (songwriting) that made rate rather poorly the forerunner. The problem is that the singer is still uninspired , although he has a good voice and uses it correctly, but he does not know what to sing and where ( this is lack of inspiration) sounding all too often like the Beatles or the Moody Blues. The rest of the musicians are excellent especially the guitarist pulling in some blistering solos.

The first side is fully dedicated to a 24 + min suite that starts off in the Floydish mode ( circa Atom , Echoes & Interstellar Overdrive) and the average proghead is in heaven for a while until it all stops at the start of the fourth movement. There a acoustic guitar and horrendous lyrics along with uninspired singing melody ruins the ambiance, and then it picks up again , bettering as it goes along but never recaptures the original strenght. A bit of a waste . In my compilation of the two Gracious! albums I edited that horrendous passage.

C. B. S. is my fave track from this band , full of energy and all. Windy Day is another track that would've benefited from better vocals ( again in the Moody Blues vein ) on anotherwise correct track. Blue Skies is another blistering track with excellent interplay between Bass , KB and Guitar. the last track is also correct but suffer from a weird and abrupt fade-out.

This was a band that had a lot assets and all of the ingredient to make the big leagues bar one, the inspiration - not only in singing but on the overall writing dept. Still worth a spin ..... but there are many more gems to uncover in early British prog bands such as Audience , Comus , Gnidrolog ........ but do give this one a try .

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