9 PARTS TO THE WIND

I do not agree that Strange Days are Progressive-Folk , but, i do agree that like Wallenstein's No More Love, and Jail's You Can Help Me, their album 9 Parts To The Wind just cries out to be more recognized, and deserves to have been huge. I discovered this rare gem quite by accident, really, as a stray used lp in 1988, years after it's initial release in '75.

I find that Strange Day's influences are a challenge to quickly isolate and pin down-they are a curious mixture of styles that unite in a unique way, and the group ends up quite an individual entity-if i had to put a label on them, though, i would say they are Symphonic Prog. They are progressive, but with a lighter rock element that should have made them more accessible to non progressive listeners-again a sound that could have appealed to a wider and bigger audience. But we are talking 1975 for a debut album, not 1969 or 1970-and thus easier to be lost in time. More a matter of bad timing than lack of quality music.

Especially noteworthy is the keyboard player Eddie Spence, who is a natural musician in his element just as much as a big name like Keith Emerson, and wrongly obscured by time.

The group's lyrics are as individual as their meshing of musical styles-everything from a kid having control-freak parents, pornography, the struggles of a union, finding work in a depressed economy, and (i think) homosexuality. The whole thing leaves you wishing that you could sort of go back to 1975, and fully reconnect with the time and the music-imagine having seen them live! This well remastered album is a precious thing-five stars.