GRACIOUS !

I had high hopes for this as it was released on the fabulously prog Vertigo (with the swirl logo as opposed to the harder rocking spaceship logo of later years) and re-released by the excellent Repertoire records on CD. I had heard so much from this album from collectioners , I was expecting a masterpiece. Alas Minor deception was around the bend, as this is a rather eclectic record ( i normally consider this as a plus ) but this led to a very unfocused album .

Introduction is the best track on the album with a blistering guitar solo giving high hopes for the rest . Heaven is marred/plagued by Beatlesque or Moody Blues vocals (this would not be a problem if it was for one song only but you find that recurring on most tracks) and Zappaesque doodling out of place on this album. Hell is more interesting but the long Ragtime interlude is boring me as I never enjoyed that particular style of music. Fugue is well played but totaly out of place in this album. Dream ia all together a better tune but again the singer almost pulls a Hey Jude line and I don't think this was a nod or a wink to the fab four ( inspiration is the main problem of this album) and funny Zappa licks.

Adding it all up makes for less than a side of fine music , which I find a little too few IMO, so I am being generous giving that third star. Make sure you heard this well enough , before dishing out the dough.

Sometimes some rare records have superb reputation one the facts that the vinyl was rare and some people would dish out small fortune without a listen , but Labels such as Repertoire makes this avoidable by having pressed bigger amounts of CD as Opposed to some other (we want names.....) that will release only 1000 copies of the Cd insuring that most would-be buyers jump on it without hesitation. This is true for average records with few copies on vinyl and on CD such as Raw Material , Running Man and Titus Groan ( who all made some very decent alum but rather uneven in the song/tracks proposed). But Gracious! is not concerned by these last considerations as a release on repertoire makes it relatively easy to find..