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.

Despite the fact that A Testament Of Time was released in 1971, it has a distinct 60's flavour. The album belongs firmly to Giltrap's early phase and his Prog days were still ahead of him at this point. Giltrap is primarily known as a guitarist, but in his early days he also sang, something that he would soon give up and concentrate on instrumental music (or occasionally hiring others to sing). He has a fine if unremarkable voice and the music found here is in a very standard folky, singer-songwriter style similar to Al Stewart and early David Bowie. There are almost no clues here of what Giltrap would go on to do from 1976's Visionary and onwards, even though Catwalk Blues showcases his virtuoso guitar playing. This number would survive in Giltrap's live repertoire and is present on various live recordings.

Today this album is of a primarily historical interest and as such is recommended only for fans of late 60's/early 70's singer-songwriter music and of course for those curious of how Gordon Giltrap sounded in his early days. The average Prog fan need not bother, but can go straight to the albums from the latter half of the 70's and the early 80's.