A TESTAMENT OF TIME

Much of Gordon Giltrap's earliest work is now out of print, with little apparent prospect of re- release. Most of his albums have appeared on CD at one time or another, but the odd one or two remain as LPs for collectors to seek out. This album from 1971 is one of the earliest to be relatively easy to find.

One of the main points of interest here is that the album features Giltrap the singer-songwriter, rather than composer/performer he would rapidly become. Giltrap's talents lay firmly in the latter field, so the interest I mention is primarily historic. Indeed, it's probably fair to say that on the 10 tracks on offer here, the vocals are a bit of an annoyance, as they intrude upon the already apparent guitar skills of the protagonist.

Giltrap's talent on acoustic guitar, developed from the age of 12, is what would ultimately come through for him. Here though, we have schoolboy standard lyrics about failed love affairs and bedsitter images. As if the vocals were not frustrating enough, there is also some clumsy orchestration to contend with.

I do not want to be over negative here though, as Gordon's acoustic talents do get to shine through anyway. Tracks such as "Candlelight lady" and "Harlequin" are wonderful exercises in guitar dexterity, with Giltrap already finding his compositional muse. There are similarities at times with the early work of Tim Buckley, Giltrap's mild vocal style being along the same lines as that of Buckley.

In prog terms, this is not where to come to discover Giltrap's relationship with our genre. The tracks here are short, with simple arrangements. Were it not for the intricacies of the guitar parts, this would be just another folk album.

An album certainly worthy of investigation by those who enjoy Gordon's better known works, but otherwise I would recommend his later instrumental albums before this one.

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