LADY LAKE

Although it isn't quite as groundbreaking and original as their debut album, Lady Lake by Gnidrolog is an excellent swan song (pun intended), which sees them softening and broadening the idiosyncratic style of In Spite of Harry's Toenail with some influences from the wider prog and art rock world. The combination of Jethro Tull-like flute work and hard rock guitar heroics is still present, especially on opening track I Could Never Be a Soldier, but there's nothing quite as dissonant and chaotic as Long Live Man Dead from the debut - except for the ending of Social Embarrassment, which is otherwise a somewhat Gentle Giant-influenced tune.

Then again, the fusions of styles that Gnidrolog cook up are often highly intriguing. Ship, for example, sounds to me a little like a fusion of early David Bowie solo work (from around the time of The Man Who Sold the World or Space Oddity) and Van der Graaf Generator - make of that what you will! Although In Spite of Harry's Toenail is probably the better album - being a bit more representative of the band's unique sound - Lady Lake is a fine followup. Of course, the best way to grab Gnidrolog's 1970s output is to pick up the two-albums-on-one-CD compilation of this one and the debut, and newcomers to the band are advised to pick that up - it's relatively easy to find, and if you like their first album you'll also want this one anyway (and vice versa).