D.S. AL CODA

I guess you could call this a controversial album based on the ratings for it compared to the first two NATIONAL HEALTH albums that are legendary. What changed? Not the lineup although this record was put out the year after Alan Gowen passed in 1981 as a tribute to him. So it's all Gowen compositions including a couple of covers from his band GILGAMESH. We also get some special guests who wanted to honour Gowen including Richard Sinclair on vocals for one track, Amanda Parsons and Barbara Gaskins add vocals on one track, Elton Dean on sax for two songs, Jimmy Hastings on flute for three tunes along with a trombone and trumpet player on the opener from two musicians I don't know. The core of the band is outstanding with Dave Stewart on keyboards, John Greaves on bass, Phil Miller on guitar and Pip Pyle on drums.

This isn't nearly as bad as I was expecting in fact it's quite good. The opener though that sets the tone really gets the record off on the wrong foot. I mean leave it out or bury it in the middle. I was just surprising the first time I heard it because of those 80's plastic sounding synths but there's other issues too. Just not into blasting horns either. But then we get "Black Hat" with Sinclair and his vocal melodies sounding amazing. Hastings shines on the flute along with Pip on drums. "I Feel A Night Coming On" is a top three and it starts uptempo and loud before a calm arrives. I like Dean and Miller trading off later on. The closer rounds out my top three and it's called "Toad Of Toad Hall". So a pretty good album but not very consistent to be honest.