ANDROMEDA

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Anyonewho is a fan of ATOMIC ROOSTER needs to check this album out. John Du Cann is the guitarist on this ANDROMEDA record and when it didn't become a commercial success he left to join ATOMIC ROOSTER. Both bands played a similar hard rocking style but ANDROMEDA were a trio with no organ. This band was one of the early prog bands as this was released in 1969. When I first heard it my initial reaction was that it sounded dated, but that really is it's charm. It does have a psychedelic flavour to it, but really this is often heavy, bordering on Metal at times. I can't believe how good this lead guitarist is though. A lot of times it's just a shred-fest. The bass is very upfront as well.

"Too Old" opens with some scorching guitar before the drums and bass join in on this uptempo rocker. The bass is prominant. Vocals after 1 1/2 minutes. More excellent guitar after 4 minutes. "Day Of The Change" is a mid paced tune that starts slowly. A fairly catchy, straight forward song. The tempo picks up 2 1/2 minutes in as we get some ripping guitar and throbbing bass. We're back to the original melody a minute later. Cool tune."And Now The Sun Shines" is a relaxing ballad-like tune. "Turns To Dust" is a more energetic track with vocals, as the guys play fairly behind him and over top of him. Haha. Check out the guitar after 3 minutes, and the absolutely blistering solo 5 1/2 minutes in.

"Return To Sanity" opens with marching-like drums as the sound starts to build as bass and guitar join in. It stops after 2 minutes as a new more relaxing melody arrives. Vocals after 3 minutess. The ripping guitar with pounding drums is contrasted with the relaxing passages to end the song. "The Reason" features aggressive guitar coming and going throughout. I really like this one. "I Can Stop The Sun" is a mellow track with fragile vocals, acoustic guitar and harmonies. "When To Stop" is the 8 1/2 minute closer. A powerful intro is replaced by a light melody of guitar, bass and light drums. Vocals join in. It gets powerful again as this contrast continues. I love the guitar before 4 minutes that trades solos with the bass until they join forces .Nice. The last section features Spanish sounding guitar melodies in a pastoral ending.

There are 8 bonus tracks.The first is significant "Go Your Way" as it was the first single the band released on RCA. I also really like the blazing instrumental "Exodus". An excellent record that may appeal to those fans of power trios. This is one of the earliest.

ELP's Great uncle?

Anyone who has ever indulged in genealogy will be aware that the roots of the tree can spread far wider than the branches. So it is in terms of music and the relationships between bands. Andromeda (not to be mistaken for the more recent Swedish prog metal band of the same name) are a good example of how the perceived importance of a band can lie not in what they did themselves, but in their distant relationship with others.

It is fair to say that much of the interest generated by Atomic Rooster comes from the fact that Carl Palmer of Emerson Lake and Palmer was their first drummer. Admittedly, Atomic Rooster did manage a couple of hit singles and their albums are well respected by the select few, but for many it is Palmer's presence which causes them to investigate the band's work.

So with Andromeda, the main interest here is that John DuCann, later of Atomic Rooster, was the leader of this one shot outfit. Ironically, DuCann and Palmer were not in Atomic Rooster at the same time. Released in 1969, this self titled album was the only original album released in the name of Andromeda, who split up when DuCann was asked to join Atomic Rooster.

On to the album itself, and there is no doubt that the music here is ambitious, especially in view of the rudimentary line up the band in instrumental terms. The sole lead instrument is the lead guitar of DuCann, which combines with his vocals to provide the sound that prevails throughout. The feel is a sort of cross between Cream and Led Zeppelin, with lead guitar flurries and multi-tracked vocals driven by a heavy drums and bass combination. Inevitably there are also similarities with the work of Atomic Rooster, albeit devoid of the distinctive organ sounds of the band.

The tracks are certainly more than simply pop rock excursions, their structures and arrangements covering up well for the one dimensional nature of the line up. DuCann's guitar work is original and adventurous, showing little or no desire to pander to the demands of a singles centric public.

Three of the tracks here are long for the period, running to 7 to 9 minutes. Each is in three parts giving the impression at least of something even more complex. This is a bit misleading, although "Return to sanity" does have a quasi-symphonic atmosphere at times, in part due to the "Planets (Mars)"/"Bolero" like intro which builds the expectation in the first part of the track. Too soon though it is succeeded by something altogether more prosaic.

The overall feel of the album is, despite the apparent complexities, rudimentary; this is an album which flatters to deceive. Perhaps it is the underlying quality of the song-writing which is the issue here, the songs being built on shaky ground. Whatever it is, while I find the album to be on one level admirable and ambitious, on another I simply find it unremarkable. DuCann and colleague are to be congratulated on making the best of what they had, unfortunately they needed a bit more.

Almost a rockier, more forceful version of Steve Howe's Tomorrow, Andromeda rank amongst the very finest of British psychedelic groups that emerged during late-sixties, featuring a power- trio set-up that lends much of their material a heavy, gritty feel. Definitely a pre-cursor to the first wave of progressive rock and operating somewhere between the jocular pop-psych of Tomorrow and the dark, brooding menace of early Pink Floyd, Andromeda's debut is a first-rate slice of proto-prog featuring expansive song-writing, skilful interplay and some suitably incoherent sci-fi themes lyrics. Led by guitarist/vocalist John DuCann and also featuring Mick Hawksworth(bass, vocals) and drummer Ian McLane, the group's debut album is highly- recommended for those who prefer the slightly heavier side of psych, though the real surprise here are the strangely catchy melodies that adorn tracks such as 'Now The Sun Shines' and 'Turn To Dust'. The material becomes progressively more ambitious towards the albums second side - the eight-minute mini-epic 'Return To Sanity' features some powerful guitar-and- organ interplay spread over four interlocking sections - yet the group's real strength lies in their ability to insert carefully-hidden pop hooks into their rather avant-garde sound. Recommended to all psych fans, the only real disappointment is that Andromeda stopped after just one album, leaving this self-titled effort as the only proof of their sadly-truncated existence. STEFAN TURNER, STOKE NEWINGTON, 2012