TIME WILL PASS

After two albums produced by Tim Hart of STEELEYE SPAN, Spriguns' follow up saw the equally venerable Sandy Roberton in the chair, his credits including Steeleye themselves, as well as more rock oriented bands PLAINSONG and DECAMERON under the UK folk rock banner.

Not surprisingly this is a punchier effort with a much fuller sound, while it will never be mistaken for COMUS or SPIROGYRA. Part of this flowering occurs through the arrangements of string master Robert Kirby, whose association with NICK DRAKE and STRAWBS among others had dignified their own disks. Similar spells are conjured here on "All Before", which includes elegant piano, and the moving "White Witch", two of the 4 superb tracks on "Time will Pass". Elsewhere, keyboards sounding like string synthesizers complement the eerie "Devil's Night" and a brilliant extended rendition of the only traditional piece in sight, "Blackwaterside". But both also offer the heaviest guitars yet brandished by Spriguns, closer in timber to TREES than STEELEYE, while Mandy Morton gives her all in her channeling of MADDY PRIOR, GAY WOODS, and SANDY DENNY.

The counterpoint to the newfound muscle is that a few of the cuts seem to have escaped from a generic country/folk factory, with the limply pedestrian "For You" being the least redeemable. Nonetheless, I recommend this album over "Revel Weird and Wild" for fans of the sort of music that never succumbs to the passage of time.