JOURNEY TO THE EDGE

Another compilation of prog and the usual suspects are here designed to gain some kind of notoriety among the unitiated. For the rest of us there is nothing very much that is new and worthy. As usual we have three categories of prog on offer: the quintessential, the non- essential, and the curiously out of place.

First the quintessential: Focus - Hocus Pocus (6:41), Yes - Roundabout (Live) (5:33), Traffic - 40,000 Headmen (3:16), Atomic Rooster - Tomorrow Night (3:57), Caravan - Golf Girl (5:02), The Nice - America (6:07), Camel - Freefall (5:50), Genesis - In The Beginning (3:46), and Emerson Lake & Palmer - Lucky Man (Live) (2:56).

Of this list, it is nice to get some live versions and the best Camel and Traffic songs in my opinion too. Genesis is a weird choice from their debut but its great to see it here. Caravan is welcome as is Atomic Rooster so there are the positives.

Now the non-essential: Manfred Mann's Earth Band - Joybringer (3:25), The Moody Blues - Isn't Life Strange (6:05), Barclay James Harvest - Child Of The Universe (5:05), Rick Wakeman - Catherine Of Aragon (3:46) and Colosseum - Beware Of The Ides Of March (5:35).

All prog artists but the choice of song is questionable especially The Moody Blues with that insipid number; they are so much better on Question, Nights in White Satin or Tuesday Afternoon, to name a few. An edited Wakeman does not do him justice either for that matter. Colosseum have better tracks so this was a strange choice.

Now for the curiously out of place: Man - Sudden Life (4:43) and Tempest- Paperback Writer (2:50). I had never heard of either and I have heard a lot of prog. Man is psych prog from UK and Tempest is folk prog from the US. I would have thought the compilation could have included some Magma or RPI or other types of prog but it seems settled into mainly English speaking bands (unless you can count the absurd yodelling of Swedish Thjis Van Leer from Focus).

Overall the compilation is another taster for those wanting to know more about the music and it is as flawed as the others but still not too bad given the choice on offer here.

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