SPRING

Spring were a six-piece English band from Leicester who sprang up in 1971 to release this superb self-titled album of stereophonic delights and they released a further album "Second Harvest in 1973 before just as quickly disappearing from the music scene. The "Spring" album features three bonus tracks on the 1992 CD re-issue. This delightful album passed by virtually unnoticed at the time of its release but it's now getting the recognition it truly deserves thanks to ProgArchives and the Internet. The album features lush symphonic melodies and beautiful harmonic soundscapes and the band is unique in featuring no less than three Mellotron players in the line-up. This album will delight and enthral fans of the Moody Blues and will appeal to any fans of the symphonic, heavenly sound of the Mellotron generally.

The album opens in suitably dramatic style with "The Prisoner (Eight by Ten)". This is just a foretaste of the musical box of delights to come and Mellotron lovers will instantly recognise the similarities with the powerful, symphonic sound of the early Moody Blues from their "Nights in White Satin" era. The song features triumphal keyboard phrases coupled with the hauntingly- atmospheric sound of the Mellotron always present in the background. Song No. 2 "Grail" is an emotionally appealing and uplifting tune with some lovely Mellotron melodies and warm and pleasant vocals. The song features some lush and dramatic Mellotron solos, again very reminiscent of the sound of the Moody Blues. Song 3 "Boats" is an interesting contrast in style with a late 1960's Folk-Rock sound featuring an acoustic and electric guitar and no Mellotron this time around. Song 4 "Shipwrecked Sailor" is a rockier number with the electric guitar at the forefront and with backing from the Mellotron. The song has a military- style marching rhythm to it with some strident trumpet sounds from the synth to close out the song. The opening song of Side Two "Golden Fleece" is guaranteed to delight the senses with vast symphonic soundscapes created by the lush sound of three Mellotrons played together. Song 6 "Inside Out" returns to a heavier rock sound, interlaced with some quieter melodic passages to keep the listener entertained before the song plays out in dramatic symphonic style. Song 7 "Song to Absent Friends (The Island)" is a beautiful and gentle ballad featuring solo electric piano and vocals. Finally, we come to the album closer "Gazing", another outstanding piece of music which brings a superb album to an end in magnificent and majestic fashion.

Spring is a beautifully-produced album which is an absolute joy and delight to listen to from beginning to end. This is sublime, lovingly-crafted music at its finest. The album is guaranteed to appeal to Moody Blues fans and lovers of the Mellotron sound everywhere. A truly magnificent album of first-rate musicianship that deserves a treasured place in any music lover's collection.

Warning: the music on this album contains mellotrons.

And with that proviso, we look at this fascinating one off album from the progressive English band Spring from 1971. One of few the early seventies bands that built it's musical foundations on the prog hallowed mellotron. Even the three bonus recordings present on this album, that were the initial songs recorded for their follow up album prior to the band splitting up, also feature the mellotron heavily, with more piano and organ brought in to build up the sound.

So, is the album Spring any good? That depends on how much one appreciates combining of the mellotron with mellow , but always simmering music. There are some dramatic moments on Spring with lyrics worthy of either Peter Sienfeld and Keith Reid, but the tone of the album is reflective and relatively quiet when compared to the more dynamic "From the Wicthwood Sounding" bonus tracks.

But the band, with four out of the five members playing the tron on different tracks, make this one off album seem almost essential to an early prog fan. Heavy 'Chas Cronk' style basslines and deceptively simple sounding drumming that has metronomic precision courtesy of future Dire Straits drummer Pick Withers. The band's rich soundscapes that feature everything from mellotron horns, flute, string, and even tympani, are marked out by a clangy electric guitar supported by the sweet tones of a beautifully strummed acoustic 12 string, which makes the music sound very much of it's time.

However, Spring has one endearing quality that almost all early seventies progressive rock band's lack. A modern, almost timeless, sounding vocalist that brings to mind echos of Peter Gabriel mixed with Cat Stevens.

For prog fans, 3.5 stars seems right. For prog fans who love mellotron, it's easily 4 stars. This review is for dr wu23, for inadvertently reminding me of why I got into prog in the first place.

If you the lover of Mellotrons read no further and go listen to this Album. This album is pure magic for me, It's feels like visiting the countryside with a Tesla Electric car, you have that rural feeling and yet you get that "modern"(well not so modern its super-analog sound) rock sound. For me, its one of my all time favorites since I got the Akarma reissue I was blown away. there's not much point talking about the music itself. You'll have to listen to this, its a wonderful journey. Any fan of "The Court of the Crimson King" will appreciate this diamond. Enjoy.

Spring released this interesting debut album on RCA, which I was slightly surprised to learn considering that the cover resembles a classic-period Vertigo release. Either way, the content here is not the most audaciously complex prog of this vintage, but is notable because of the band's extensive use of Mellotron - and unlike many groups, who stuck mainly to the iconic choir sound of the Mellotron, Spring bring a variety of tape sets to bear, making good use of the eerie flute and violin sets. Reminiscent of the later work of Morte Macabre and other Mellotron fetishists, Spring also bring a strong set of songs to the table, making this both an important and an enjoyable early prog release.

I'm a bit surprised by two things about this entry in PA = the Eclectic prog tag, as this record is far more pure progressive than a lot of other "progressive rock" tagged records, and the quite low rate of it. Of course it's a matter of taste, but listening to "Golden Fleece" or "Gazing" (for example) is for me pure gold, pure Mellotron and emotion based music.

Because of some lower quality songs, I can't rate Spring like the ***** England / A garden shed album for example (which is for me the typical lost progressive gem, although not that lost finally). Spring reminds me England because of the vocals with the same kind of real emotion in it. Love it.

4 stars definitely for me !

Is it a bird - a plane? NO - It´s ............ well, kind of hard to tell.

Sometimes you just can´t find your place - no matter how hard you try, you´ll end up completely estranged and lost to the world. This sounds harsh, but in a way this perfectly sums up Springs self titled debut from the year 1971, where the hippie-dippy society drenched in peace and understanding was all but slain by the awful Altamont incident(what a brilliant idea to hire the Hells Angels as head of security, Mick Jagger), fighting in the streets and a drug consummation that was out of control.

Spring´s sound is like a hangover from the 60s - evoking thoughts of sitting around the bonfire smoking weed and playing songs you once wrote, while sitting on the can. This is a compliment btw, and one of this records biggest attributes: the songwriting is damn good. In fact, if it wasn´t for the ever present mellotrons and the small changes of pace, melody or structure, I´d think of this as a singer-song writer album...

There is however a big problem surrounding this release. At the time music was going a 1000 miles an hour in every which direction the different artists would take it. The progressive bands in particular were on the verge of climaxing in an esoteric explosive love affair, whereas the pop groups were trying to find there own sound, that preferably shouldn´t be a clear cut resurrection of what was so successful the decade before hand. Spring sounds like neither. They were too progressive for the pop audience and far too sweet and unadventurous for the prog community at the time. It is a real shame, and certainly when one thinks of the resurgence of this particular brand of music nowadays. Coheed and Cambria, Porcupine Tree, Pure Reason Revolution, The Dear Hunter and The Decemberists all dwell in between prog and pop, and as far as I can gather, they are doing pretty good -well at least compared with Spring.

If you love mellotron - and that seagull like, airy floating sound to boot, I urge you to find this long lost treasure. There are some killer guitar solos sprinkled along the album as well, with the one featured on Golden Fleece being my personal fave. The singer sounds a bit like The Verve front man Richard Ashcroft, with that sensuous vibrato effect attached to it, and together with the softness of the mellotron and the whole Moody Blues marinade these guys had been lurking in - things get interesting and quite different from the usual tenors in these kinds of bands, that usually sound like they live off mayonnaise and margarine.

Stand out tracks include the before mentioned Golden Fleece, Gazing and the wonderful Grail, that feature the most progressive shifts and turns this album has to offer, but it does so with grace and a thoughtfulness normally only associated with the more mellow pop artists of the time. I really love the mellotron on this track, which slightly sounds like a melodious whiff of fresh air blowing through a labyrinth - changing pitch and expression all according to the corridors.

A real bipolar treat, that never really finds its true self.

I am wondered what happened as I'm - a newbie - must be almost the first to write upon the fabulous item. Whether the mature ones from here found it too insignificant or they simply haven't heard (of) it.

Long time, long 30+ years this work was not meant to exist. The typical talk was of a one-album band and that it's a Universal grief there's no more. It makes this album a fabulous one, no doubt.

For my taste it represents a collection of well-sounding songs without any real charm. The charm haunts here and there in the fragments - sometimes it sounds much alike to the Cirkus' One, especially. Plus there's an overall minor kinda minor charm. But it's so minor comparing to the first release. And after all, finding THE SAME bonus tracks as on the previous album means to me both a commercial trick of stretching the length and a somewhat intelligent failure... It's a pretty mediocrity. I wish this album had never been recorded. As it's been RELEASED - I see the guys need money. How can anyone blame an artist for that? On the other hand it gives us an advice to not to expect the permanent greatness of the great musicians...

I had a big mistake with this album. I thought it is lack and uninteresting (including Spring's first harvest). I'd tried to "get into" it several times (5 as minimum). Only now I can say: this is masterpiece and even better than first album. This's masterpiece of early 70th progressive song-oriented music, like Cressida f. i. Not the best album of progressive or something like... All songs (all! ) are good. I like also both versions of "A Word Full of Wispers" and "Hendre Mews" (strangely enough for me :) ). If you think that I'm wrong, you're wrong :) Yu've warned! :) Seriously, don't miss this album and don't repeat my mistake.

I really have a great trouble to definate this music and this band. Music is very soft but it got its magic and charm! In the other hand I must admit, that Spring composed rather uncomplicated songs which were favoured only by using a lot of mellotron but this is unfortunatelly not enough. Second album. I will concentrate only on the tracks, which are worthy to do this. Hendre Mews - the main theme is viredly ornamented with some nice piano chords. A painted ship - track move on slowly but in the end (last minute) we've got quasi-epic Hammond's crescendo. High horse - connected with last number, syncopation sounds of percussion and Hammond, crashed in the middle by the wind (something like early Blood Sweat and Teras) with interesting piano plot. Good track. Fernley Avenue and Helping the helpless - both are typical pop songs, nothing to remember after listening. A word full of whispers - wow, it opens with the sound from the first album....but, after this we heard anotherpop song! Get my share - a'la trans ending, skimed guitar interlaced with Hammond. I give it 2,5, a little bit of sentiment.

It's hard not to feel sceptical when presented with an early-1970's prog-rock album with the tag 'Lost Classic' attached; Is it a cunning marketing ploy, a trick to boost the band's profile or is it simply bare- faced lies designed to con paying music fans out of their hard-earned cash? Whatever the reason(and this writer would like to make clear that some albums have the 'lost classic' tag for VERY GOOD Reasons), the upturn in Progressive Riock's recent fortunes have meant a clutch of forgotton bands have re-appeared, decades after they first started-out, in an attempt to revive their lost art in this new and exciting digital age. SPRING - a group who were one of the very first proper prog acts alongside KING CIMSON - released their eponymously-titled debut in 1970, to mixed reviews, before falling into the darkness of relative obscurity. Their album was a mellotron-drenched affair, maudlin and melancholy in tone, and featured a rather disturbing album cover that reminds one of the grisly Nic Roeg arthouse-horror masterpiece 'Don't Look Now' in it's depiction of a red-coat clad person(girl or boy???) lying, presumably dead, in a muddy country ditch. It's this kind of murky imagery that gave early prog it's artistic bells, but despite the striking imagery, the actual music fails to live up to the rather grandiose pretentions of the artwork. 'Spring' is all build-up and no pay-off, a selection of occasionally pretty yet dull and insipid songs, none of which manages to stand-put amongst the mubdane gloom. Not dreadful, but instantly forgettable. STEFAN TURNER, LONDON, 2008