EARTH AND FIRE

Definitly quite different from their future works. That´s the obvious conclusion one gets from listening to E & F´s debut album. But that´s not to say it is bad, far from it. In fact I liked very much the psychedelic/heavy prog approach of this record. Certainly that band showed quite clearly they had something extra from the very beginning: besides being very good musicians, they happened to have an extraordinaire vocalist (Jerney Kaagman, a powerhouse singer that reminds of a cross between Curved Air´s Sonja Kristina and the Jefferson Airplaine´s Grace Slick) and the knack to write fine tunes. I guess it would be a matter of time before they tried to write something more complex, which they eventually did.

However, this CD is not without its merits: if you like the aforementioned styles, then you´ll probably enjoy their stuff. They were hardly very original, and still they have a personal touch on every song. My favorites are the beautiful harmonies of Ruby Is The One, the driving organ riff of Twilight Dreamer (again strong vocals from Kaagman), the simple yet very effective Seasons and the emotional, early Deep Purple-like, Love Quiver (great guitar and organ parts). In fact, I liked all the tracks. It´s ok that none is really a classic, but they are very good, nonetheless. Just don´t expect too much something like Song Of The Marching Children. The production is good thanks, I think, much to the excellent remastering. You can hear everything quite clearly. My CD comes with no less than 9 bonus tracks, which I believe are taken from singles (before and after this release). Very nice addition, I should say, since they are all fine tunes.

Rating: 3.5 stars. Not quite on the excellent level, specially considering the of their follow ups, but more than just good.