LEGEND

This is not a very good album, I’m afraid. Really, I’m not sure how this came to be considered progressive rock music. The term un-ambitious permeates just about every track here.

Way back in 1971 a guy named Bill Fifield was recruited to play drums in the British band Legend. Later that year he would be christened Bill Legend and appear on the debut album from T. Rex. This is not that Legend. These guys aren’t legends at all in fact, except possibly in their own minds. The sound here is pure late eighties/early nineties commercial rock with enough keyboard showboating to make it sound like something remotely progressive to undiscerning listeners. But it’s not – it is mostly commercial fare that probably got more credit than it deserved like other ‘neo’ prog bands of the early nineties, a time when standards were pretty low and this sort of music was able to pass for the real thing.

After from the monotonous keyboards and overdone guitar arpeggios, the vocals are the next worst thing about the record. Debbie Chapman actually sounds like one of those early nineties Canadian guys singing falsetto that consumed the MTV airwaves back then. It took a look at the credits to confirm this is actually a woman singing; no offense meant to her talents, that’s just the way her voice ends up sounding here.

There are a couple of long tracks here that might lead one to believe this is a progressive album, or at least something substantive. But in reality both of them (“The Wild Hunt” and “Mordred”) go on far longer than they need to and don’t amount to much beyond keyboard progressions and spacey vocals intersected at times by lulls in the arrangement filled by even spacier keyboard sounds. There’s a story being told in both cases but I can’t be bothered to take the time to absorb it thanks to the lack of anything interesting in the music. “I Close my Eyes” sounds like a teen pop star singing their personal anthem by the way, and I don’t really mean that in any good way.

Enough here. Not much of an album, forgotten mostly because it should be, and not recommended to anyone but dedicated fans of the band. Two stars fits this one perfectly.

peace

i have listened to this album and agree with DIPPY in particular when he talks about the robotic drumming and its tendancy to annoy however i would like to point out that their second offering is much more improved with a new rythm section who intergrate with each other nicely.they compliment the music rather than destroy it.LEGEND'S 3rd offering TRIPLE ASPECT is by far their best work to date and a vast improvement on anything they have done prior and raised the bar for anything they would embark on since though they seemed to have dissapeared alltogether which is a crying shame as this band, in my humble opinion, had developed into one of the best prog rock outfits i've ever come accros with their tight, innovative not to mention intriguing and refreshing approach to one of the best genre's in music. it would have been interesting to hear what L.I.E would have sounded like with both MACKLIN and ROUSKI in the studio as i have caught the band live and these two guys between them bring these songs to life and do them the justice the truly deserved when they were origionaly penned.

Where do i start......what an amazing album from the thumping prog rock melodies, syncopated guitar/keyboard riffs to the fantastic, solid rhythm section (how does john macklin get his head round some of those time signatures!!!) With interesting subject matter making the songs very involved with what they are about complimented by debbie's angelic voice. Definitely worth a listen and then some....a very promising effort by a band unique unto themselves. If you like this album then you will undoubtedly love their latest offering "triple aspect" have caught the band live and they put on a fantastic show and quite frankly blew me away!

I'd heard a lot about this band that was very favourable when I spotted this disc in a cheap second hand store. I was bit disappointed on playing it as the recording was very muddy and some of the sonds a bit heavy on the guitar histronics. It does have promise however and indicates a band that will probably cut it live.

This would have been a promising debut album containing some excellent songwriting, however it is spoilt because of the over the top roto-tom fills that seem to dominate every track due to the drums being to the fore in the mix. I wouldn't mind, but this guy ain't Bill Bruford if you know what I mean. This makes the album a little irritating to listen through all the way through.