After The Fire

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For my first post I'd like to recommend an album by After The Fire (a band seemingly yet to make it into the Prog Archives). Progsters that remember their early / mid 80's offerings after they changed their style to New  Wave / Pop will have stopped reading by now.

However, their first album, Signs Of Change, released late 70's, which they brought out on the private Rapid record label is a sublime feast of prog heaven in my opinion, and would definitely rank up there as one of my Desert Island discs. I discovered the album on cassette in about 1984 whilst at Univeristy when a colleague let me listen to a copy. I bought a second hand copy of the LP in Rockpile Records in Dundee for about £15. Sadly, I lent it to someone and never got it back. Fortunately, I retained two copies on tape that gradually eroded in quality, and so was delighted when the CD was issued last year.

Track listing:

Dance Of The Marionette 7:00
Back To The Light 4:30
Now That I've Found 8:10
Signs Of Change 8:04
Jigs 2:58
Pilgrim 11:22

The recently released (2005) CD on the Rough Mix label features 4 extra tracks in a similsr vein to the original album:

Samaritan Woman 11:01
Dreamaway 9:50
Hallelujah 6:31
Back To The Light (Demo) 5:09

Band line up:

Peter Banks (Hammond C3, Mini Moog, Crumar Multiman, Piano, vocals)
Nick Battle (Bass, violin, vocals)
Andy Piercy (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, tamborines)
Ivor Twidell (Drums)

The highlights of the album for me are Dance Of The Marionette, Now That I've Found and the epic Pilgrim. Jigs is the only 'filler' on the album.

I love the keyboards, Andy Piercy's emotional guitar playing and the way the songs contain changes of pace, tempo etc. The vocals initially took a little while to get used to, but after repeated listenings, seem to suit the music perfectly. The album has a biblical / Christian theme running through it, and for me there are several musical moments that bring  a tear to the eye (which I can assure you doesn't happen often to me).

Without question Prog of the highest calibre, and all the more interesting as this was After The Fire's first and last contribution to the world of Prog.

I'd be very interested to hear views from anyone else who might know this album, and if you've never heard it, then please give it a try.

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Takeshi Kovacs Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Reviewer page Forum Senior Member Joined: September 27 2005 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 2454	Topic: After The Fire Posted: April 29 2006 at 05:20
	For my first post I'd like to recommend an album by After The Fire (a band seemingly yet to make it into the Prog Archives). Progsters that remember their early / mid 80's offerings after they changed their style to New Wave / Pop will have stopped reading by now. However, their first album, Signs Of Change, released late 70's, which they brought out on the private Rapid record label is a sublime feast of prog heaven in my opinion, and would definitely rank up there as one of my Desert Island discs. I discovered the album on cassette in about 1984 whilst at Univeristy when a colleague let me listen to a copy. I bought a second hand copy of the LP in Rockpile Records in Dundee for about £15. Sadly, I lent it to someone and never got it back. Fortunately, I retained two copies on tape that gradually eroded in quality, and so was delighted when the CD was issued last year. Track listing: Dance Of The Marionette 7:00 Back To The Light 4:30 Now That I've Found 8:10 Signs Of Change 8:04 Jigs 2:58 Pilgrim 11:22 The recently released (2005) CD on the Rough Mix label features 4 extra tracks in a similsr vein to the original album: Samaritan Woman 11:01 Dreamaway 9:50 Hallelujah 6:31 Back To The Light (Demo) 5:09 Band line up: Peter Banks (Hammond C3, Mini Moog, Crumar Multiman, Piano, vocals) Nick Battle (Bass, violin, vocals) Andy Piercy (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, tamborines) Ivor Twidell (Drums) The highlights of the album for me are Dance Of The Marionette, Now That I've Found and the epic Pilgrim. Jigs is the only 'filler' on the album. I love the keyboards, Andy Piercy's emotional guitar playing and the way the songs contain changes of pace, tempo etc. The vocals initially took a little while to get used to, but after repeated listenings, seem to suit the music perfectly. The album has a biblical / Christian theme running through it, and for me there are several musical moments that bring a tear to the eye (which I can assure you doesn't happen often to me). Without question Prog of the highest calibre, and all the more interesting as this was After The Fire's first and last contribution to the world of Prog. I'd be very interested to hear views from anyone else who might know this album, and if you've never heard it, then please give it a try.
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