ONE

"One" is the debut full-length studio album by UK progressive rock act Cirkus. The album was released through RCB (Projects) Ltd. in 1974. The original album featured 9 tracks but there are a couple of CD reissues available containing bonus tracks.

The music on the album is progressive rock but of the more commercial sounding and accessible kind. The tracks are generally not very long and pretty much follow regular vers/chorus structures. In addition to bass, guitar, and drums there are lots of mellotron on the album and also some orchestration. The vocals by Paul Robson are smooth and pleasant. So while this is typically labelled progressive rock this sometimes has more in common with commercial pop/rock than it has with progressive rock.

The material are generally well composed and the sound production is professional, detailed, and well sounding too. In addition to that the musicianship is on a high level throughout, so from a compositional/production/performance perspective "One" is a decent enough album. It´s all a bit cheesy 70´s kitchy though, and I can´t help to cringe with embarrasment a couple of times during the playing time.

Cirkus lands themselves between two chairs here, as they are probably not progressive enough and a bit too easily accessible to entertain a progressive rock audience, but they are also too progressive inclined to be played in commercial pop/rock radio. That´s not always an issue and several other artists have pulled that off over the years, but Cirkus lacks conviction and credibility. Still a 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating isn´t all wrong, as "One" is still a professional sounding product.