Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Abel Ganz - The Dangers Of Strangers CD (album) cover

THE DANGERS OF STRANGERS

Abel Ganz

 

Neo-Prog

3.02 | 79 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

apps79
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars After an 85' tour throughout Scotland Abel Ganz would again face the cruel reality of line-up changes.They hired a new vocalist, Martin Haggerty, who only played two gigs with the band, and in 1986 Weir left to be replaced by Alan Quinn.The track ''The dangers of strangers'' was recorded for the ''Double exposure'' compilation album, but soon the band fell apart.Hew Montgomery made an attempt to revive Abel Ganz in 1987 and former members Hugh Carter and Malky McGiven joined him, however they went on basically as a studio project, lacking the additional crew to perform live.A new cassette-album was released by the trio in 1988, ''The dangers of strangers''.They were joined by ex-bandmates Paul Kelly and Alan Reed in a couple of tracks, while session drummer Denis Smith took over the drum duties.The album was re-released in CD on Ugum, as all of the early Abel Ganz works.

It would be a surprise if all the aforementioned issues had no effect on Abel Ganz'es inspiration.''The dangers of strangers'' is another good album by the Scottish veterans, but it certainly lacks some of the incredible pieces of the past two albums.Even so, this is pretty tight and uncommercial Neo Prog with full respect to the band's early roots and plenty of enjoyable moments.The songwriting appears to be more laid-back and emotional with less angular keyboard acrobatics and a tendency towards more conventional structures with focus on lyrical passages, PINK FLOYD-like atmospheric textures, stll having this mid-70's GENESIS vibe.The two-part, 12-min. title-track is a very strong piece with thematic changes and tempo shifts, built around Kelly's very good vocals, melodic guitars and Montgomery's solid keyboard work, but the three-part, 9-min. ''Rain again'' is some sort of a dissapointment, sounding very accesible, only saved by Reed's excellent vocal parts.Old-days Abel Ganz will return with the fully convincing ''Hustler II'': Emphatic Neo Prog with instant melodies, bombastic keyboards, ppompous instrumental material and sensitive singing lines.The 8-min. ''Dreamtime'' reminds me of early PALLAS, balancing between a lyrical atmosphere and excellent, CAMEL-esque guitar soundscapes, while the closing ''Pick a widow'' is a decent instrumental piece, based on groovy beats, flashy synthesizers and solid guitar work.

''The dangers of strangers'' prooved that Abel Ganz were alive and well back in 1988.Not the best album by the band, but certainly a very good Neo Prog release with a balanced sound and consistent vocal/instrumental executions.Recommended.

apps79 | 3/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this ABEL GANZ review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.