GNOSIS

Coming back out of extinction after 27 years was a risky business that their fellow catholics countrymen of Gracious had attemptd also, Gnidrplog of hebrew tradition tried and succeded better. Why does an agnostic or confirmed atheist such as me poit this out , you ask ? Well because this album does have a few numbers where the mid-eastern influences come in clearly. The Goldring twins reunited with the original drumer Pelgrum and enlisted ex-Procol member Copping on KB.

Right of the bat comes the best number of the album but not the only highlight. Reach for Tomorrow is a stunning piece of music with arab-like intonations and makes you hope for the rest of the album. Promise only half respected especially if you consider that this album holds no less than 7 insrtumentals. The real surprise ( not necessarily pleasing though ) is that the very hard-sung vocals are totally lost as the singing is of a pleasant note but loses its edge and inventivity. There are some very tedious moments ( Wonder, Crazy , France, City Sleeps and Fall to Ground ), but not really bad either. However Woolunga and Prozac have a didgeridoo and are very interesting. Deventer is a Camel-like instrumental dedicated to the hometown of Dutch band Lady Lake who had taken their nemes from GNi's second album. Kings of Rock and Gnosis are also noteworthy. The thing that I can and will complain about is the drumming is rather boring and sounds to modern for this kind of music.

Well as a GNI fan , I just had to discover this and was ready to make a hunt. Not fully rewarded in the quality dept. , I will only give it three stars but compared to the Gracious album , this is a good one. Oh , by the way two of the tracks were written in 73 one in 86 and the rest in the late 90's . Of course the two older tracks have my preference but not only those.