... AT THIS

Arc was a typical but very good quartet that made a go of it during the English post-underground era. They were often hard riff-based but showed Beatles musicality, Stones attitude, and the raised standards pioneered on the early Yes records. Think Supertramp meets Atomic Rooster on a drunken evening in the studio. 'Let Your Love Run Through' is lanky hard blues, relaxed but assertive with a sweet balance between the fuzz twang of John Turnbull's guitar and Michael Gallagher's saloon-style piano. 'Four Times Eight' is almost pure silliness saved by some impressive instrumentation and White Album fun and 'Great Lager Street' is simply great young prog rock, with warm vocal harmonies and delicate keyboard/guitar duets, still with that earthy spirit before things got so convoluted. Just as good and at over seven minutes is 'Hello, Hello Monday', filled with this group's particular style of semi-Baroque hard rock and accomplished playing, a remarkable piece considering the band's almost unknown status. 'Sophie's Cat' is sweet and 'You're in the Garden' is tinctured with acid and CS&N vocal triads.

A real good record that simply didn't stand out in its time, or any time for that matter, and deserves some serious reconsideration from those who like their oldies with a little class.

A one-off affair from 1971, 'At This' has been re-released after a 20-year plus hiatus in the rock wilderness by those fantastic purveyor's of lost prog, Esoteric Recordings, the label who have also given us 'Space Shanties' by Khan, 'Glass-Top Coffin' By Ramases and Soft Machine's superb 'Bundles' album, to name just a few. An energetic and accomplished slice of early pop-tinged prog, Arc's debut sounds a bit like Yes, Flash and Queen have all been press-ganged into making an album together, which would probably be no bad thing(!). The music is brisk and inventive without ever being brilliant, but in a couple of tracks, most notably the album-opener 'Let Your Love Run Through', the group show off some seriously-catchy riffs imbued with impressive vocal harmonies. Lyrics wise, let's just say the group won't win any Bob Dylan-size plaudits, but the music is good enough to forgive the occasional literal abberation. All in all, enjoyable, briskly-played prog-rock - with the emphasis on rock - which should please fans of Yes, Supertramp, Babe Ruth and Rush. STEFAN TURNER, LONDON, 2010.