ONCE AGAIN

BJH was one of the most surprising encounters for me on Prog Archives. As far a I remembered the band was a 70s pop act and the exact opposite of what I thought Prog was about. So I snatched some BJH away from the library. Only to find my opinion largely confirmed by them.

The album opens nicely though, with a very mellow type of symphonic rock, complete with romantic orchestration and bitter-sweet pleasing melodies. The sharp guitar soloing gives everything a bit of an edge and creates a nice balance where the mellowness fits in just right. At least it does on this opening track.

With Happy Old World we're off for a couple of dreary 70s cliché ballads. Imagine Simon and Gartfunkel doing mellow country tunes and crooners and you're close. I guess a song like Mocking Bird has some redeeming qualities but even for someone that is completely disinterested in lyrics like me, the words here are so clumsy that I can't enjoy this at all. Vanessa Simmons is a pretty campfire tune, Ball and Chain an average soft-blues song and Lady Loves another syrupy crooner to conclude.

I'll conclude with a 'good' rating as it's not a bad album, but actually I don't care much for these tunes except for the opener.