AUDIENCE

In the vein of acts like Traffic and Gnidrolog, Audience combines the natural feeling of styles of folk and blues and the more musically engaging styles of jazz and classical. It's prog rock in a non-traditional stance, and that's what makes HOUSE ON THE HILL as exciting as other proggier albums.

Think of Audience as Gnidrolog's rhythm section (that good) with Van der Graaf Generator's woodwinds and a unique lead singer with a distinctive voice and plays strictly acoustic guitars. The delicacy of the acoustic guitars mixed in with the thrust of everything makes a near perfect sound balance that few can match. Maybe that explains the relative obscurity of Audience; the sound, while great, was hard to categorise, and that seems to have made it difficult for Audience to achieve even cult status.

On this particular album, the North Americans again get the better bargain much like on MOONTAN. Sure, Europe got the snappy ''Eye to Eye'', a great song in its own right and better than ''It Brings a Tear'', but the order on the NA release is better. I know there isn't much of a difference, but ''Indian Summer'' does not sound like a track that should close the record; it opens the record on the NA release, much more suitably too. The slow moving yet epic ''Jackdaw'' doesn't sound like an opener to me. I know I'm being nitpicky, but still?

HOUSE ON THE HILL can thrust power when it needs to; the title track is a perfect fusion of blues, rock and folk with an extended jam session at the right spot. The saxophone solo with two echoes is quite imaginative, and it's a few years before Mr. Freddie tried that when singing about prophets. There are also calmer, quieter bits as offsets. The beautiful rendition of Screamin' Jay's ''I Put a Spell on You'' is a slice of freshness to a normally sinister piece (it still kind of sounds that way), and classical buffs will enjoy the interceding orchestra on ''Raviole''.

There are times when HOUSE ON THE HILL compromises the two dynamic levels. ''You're Not Smiling'' executes this near flawlessly. The softness of the verses crescendoing into that haunting vocal/sax line is pure music euphoria.

It's hard to rate an album like HOUSE ON THE HILL on a prog site, but it belongs here and it's one of the better albums of this genre. The country-fied ''Nancy'' is the only blemish I could find (either version, it's on both), and even then, Howard Werth's vocal delivery saves the song. Highly recommended.

This is a wondeful little gem that should be re-discovered, probably the most important effort by Audience.

The band doesn't use any keyboards' sound. The structure of music is based on guitars (acoustic mainly) and, above all, a SUPERB gruff saxophone (and clarinet) playing that reminds the typical VAN DER GRAAF mood, as it's evident up to the powerful opening number "Jackdaw". The album sounds eclectic, folky, baroque, periodically turning into avant-garde and jazz.

Some reviewers have linkened "I Had A Dream" to Bob Dylan's "Knockin' On Heavens Door" which was written - from what I know - in 1972 or 1973, quite some time after Audience's track (so to say how far Audience's influence spread). Other highlights are "Raviolé" (beautiful folk and classical arrangements) and the pleasant "Indian Summer" (nice flute).

The title track is simply stunning with those alternatings between crispy vocals and mad saxes, with slow interludes, flute, drums' solo, excellent bass playing.

This record was certainly written and composed during the golden hours of the early seventies: highly recommended.

Audience is the 1969 debut album by British art rock band Audience. It was deleted shortly after its release and is now collectable in its original vinyl version. I've the CD version made by Akarma.

The debut of Audience does not contain real Progressive. In fact it is composed of 12 songs, all more or less progressive, but plain and simple. I like this kind of music, since it is not easy POP but neither Rock, stopping half way between POP and Rock. The addition of flute, tenor sax and clarinet plus a good Blues song is is the feature that I like to listen in this type of music. Audience, than, is not a band that plays covers as Affinity (for examples) and that is to build a personal and non-trivial. Defect, rather obviously, is that although magic and feeling are still intact, we understand that music is from 1969, because even with breaths of Prog Blues and Beat, although not very obvious.

But if you love early prog and try something really mature in early Prog you can not find yourself in your hands this CD.

At first hearing I didn't like the sound of this band at all. The album opens with rocking songs somewhere between folk and blues-rock; the sound is a bit messy and the vocalist sounds like a bad, less expressive version of BEGGARS OPERA vocals. Acoustic guitar and banjo can be heard a lot, keyboards almost missing. But further down the album I started to get the idea of this little known band in the Charisma label. Their ace in the sleeve is the sax/ woodwind player Keith Gemmell, who has a wide spectrum in handling his instruments. Well, the vocals may also be a trademark but I personally don't like them much. Howard Werth uses some mannerism that makes comparisons to VDGG's Peter Hammill and FAMILY's Roger Chapman, but with notably poorer results, I think. Also Lindisfarne is mentioned here. Indeed, AUDIENCE really sounds like a Charisma band!

Album's highlight is the 8-minute 'Raid' where saxes show their magic, and on the whole the album is better in the latter half. At times the music comes close to the more jazzy/ meditative/ impressionistic moments of VDGG with its wailing saxes or woodwinds, and that's when I like it the best. Another good song is the effectively dramatic 'Priestess'; the lyrics repeat "priestess... murderess..." However there are some rather poor compositions, and none that could be considered excellent, especially from prog's point of view. The only instrumental 'Ebony Variations' remains quite boring. Maybe their following album House On The Hill (from which I've heard one track) is better, even though some think this one is their best. But being an album from the year 1970, definitely not one to ignore completely.

A fantastic little album which uses the flute, clarinet and sax stylings of Keith Gemmell to great effect, fans of early prog should not be put off by the fact Audience don't use keyboards - this has a big, lush sound worthy of any of the band's competitors like Rare Bird or Van der Graaf Generator - though with a bit more jazz influence than either. Howard Werth's vocals are powerful and haunting, and work especially well on the accusatory Jackdaw and the eerie title track. The album isn't perfect - I thought Eye to Eye was a bit underbaked (and, indeed, early US editions of the album left it off in favour of a track from the previous album) - but otherwise it's a great little gem from the early prog era, one which I'm surprised hasn't achieved more attention.

Audience on this album come across much like Charisma Records' answer to Family - a psych-prog band with a vocalist with a distinctive and energetic style. Musically speaking, Audience have much more jazz and folk influence than early Family, but Werth's powerful delivery really does put me in mind of Roger Chapman's vocal mannerisms. It's a good match to the music, which manages to get far darker and heavier than you'd expect psychish folk-jazz to get - especially on the menacing and accusatory Priestess. Audience seem to be comparatively forgotten compared with other Charisma stalwarts like Genesis, Van der Graaf Generator, or even Rare Bird or Lindisfarne, and this is a real shame; they certainly deserve recognition for their contributions to early prog. Four stars.

Doing great prog without keyboards is possible.

A very good album from this group of the famous Charisma Records (the label of Van Der Graaf Generator, Genesis and Lindisfarne). The music is a sort of contamination, done with great elegance, of different styles (blues, jazz, classical, american folk and country music). No keyboards here, so nothing is bombastic or pompous: acoustic guitar is the lead instrument and saxes and vocal parts are very important too.

The amazing voice of Howard Werth, that reminds an american bluesman, is perfect for pieces like Jackdaw (the best song of the album and in my opinion a masterpiece of progressive rock), Nancy and the fantastic cover of the classic of Screamin' Jay Hawkins, I Put A Spell On You.

In every song there is a great use of wind instruments by Gemmell, and Van Der Graaf comes immediately to mind. But notice that we are miles far away from the experimental music of Peter Hammill and his band, because most of the songs are very catchy and melodic (You Are Not Smiling, Nancy, I Had A Dream).

Maybe not a masterpiece but I really can not find weak moments in this album. Maybe you'll like it at first listen and, I know, for prog lovers this is not ever a good thing, but I also think you'll never find it boring and you'll play it for a long time.

Rating: 8/10.

Best song: Jackdaw

I picked this album up after reading a praising review on AllMusic.com back in 2003 and I was really surprised since it was my first experience of this great band!

The album begins with a real in-you-face sound of Jackdaw which pretty much summarizes everything that you have to know about this band in order to appreciate the rest of the performance. Soon the music turns to the softer side with You're Not Smiling, I Had a Dream and the wonderful acoustic instrumental called Raviole! After that the material comes back to the album opener territory with Nancy and the weird but nevertheless enjoyable performance on Eye To Eye. The last three tunes are here to guide the listener towards the album conclusion which consists of a Folk-cover of I Put A Spell On You, which fortunately enough isn't expanded into a 20+ minute jam-session, followed by the great album title-track and the sweet Indian Summer.

I really recommend this album to fans of Prog Folk à la Jethro Tull...Whoops! Audience is now considered to be Eclectic Prog although I personally don't see the connection since The House On The Hill is in my opinion highly representative of the Prog Folk-movement of the '70s. Did I mentioned that there is a flute player here? But I guess that there is only one way for all of you to find that out!

***** star songs: You're Not Smiling (5:12) Raviole (3:38)

**** star songs: Jackdaw (7:28) I Had A Dream (4:17) Nancy (4:14) Eye To Eye (2:30) I Put A Spell On You (4:08) The House On The Hill (7:27) Indian Summer (3:16)

Total Rating: 4,21

Very surprised to see the negative reactions to this record, which contains at least 4 of the best songs the band ever wrote (In Accord, Thunder and Lightning, Ain't the Man You Need, Buy Me an Island) despite some clunkers (Hula Girl). It is their most cohesive and least "proggy" -- there are no extended arrangments as on FRIENDS or HOUSE. Adding well-known US studio musicians Bobby Keys and Jim Price to supplement band member Keith Gemmell's brass looked like a transparent record company ploy but it actually works quite well, adding additional heft to the already amazing work by Gemmell. Howard Werth's cackling vocals have never sounded better suited to the material. It seems as though someone coaxed the band into penning songs like "Trombone Gulch" or "Barracuda Dan" for commerical appeal, but it happens that the songs are good. Any fan who's enjoyed the first 3 records should be advised to get this.

Audience were another of those early British progressive rock bands that would have deserved to achieve greater fame than they actually did. Their third album, "The House on the Hill" was released one year before the band called it a day in 1972, after the flop of their fourth disc, "Lunch" (originally meant as a concept album). Unfortunately, as happened to far too many of the bands that were active in those heady years, they fell victim to internal strife, and ended up being forgotten by all but the more dedicated followers of the genre.

More melodic than the likes of East of Eden (another unjustly overlooked, early prog band), Audience had an idiosyncratic approach to music, involving an unusual lineup with two percussionists, a noticeable lack of keyboards, and the pervasive presence of woodwind instruments (courtesy of the very underrated Keith Gemmell). One could indeed go as far as to say that the woodwinds are the real driving force behind the band's distinctive sound, together with Howard Werth's dramatic, high-energy vocals.

Although "The House on the Hill" can strike the listener as a definitely upbeat album, its title-track is in fact a rather dark offering, hinting at mysterious, disturbing goings-on in the titular mansion. At over 7 minutes, it is the longest track on the album (together with opener "Jackdaw"), and the most interesting by far, with its screaming saxophones and quiet, eerie, flute-and-percussion-driven bridge, complete with ominous sound effects that let the imagination run wild. Werth's vocal performance is particularly impressive on this song, as on the aforementioned "Jackdaw" - an angular, jazzed-up song in which the singer offers a very convincing Hammill impersonation. He also proves himself no slouch on his main instrument, the classical guitar, as shown by the exquisite instrumental "Raviolé". Compared with these three, the remaining songs on the album are not equally impressive, though undeniably interesting and well-constructed, with their blend of disparate influences - folk, blues, jazz, even gospel, like in the soothing ballad "I Had a Dream".

On the whole, "The House on the Hill" is a solid album in the best art-rock tradition, sufficiently eclectic to appeal to dyed-in-the-wool prog fans, ultimately uplifting (in spite of the title track's sinister slant), and full of memorable melodies that can appeal to those more inclined towards the mellower end of the musical spectrum. While not a masterpiece, it keeps up a consistently high level of quality, and as such deserves far more exposure than it usually gets - even on sites or magazines specialised in progressive rock. If you can get hold of it, this album will definitely be a worthy addition to your collection.