SCHIZOPHRENIA

Over the course of his 40 year career, PAUL BRETT has insisted in dabbling in all manner of musical styles, not all of them traditionally progressive. While I remain convinced he is a folky at heart, his feats at the helm of PAUL BRETT'S SAGE in the early 1970s reflect his eclecticism across the psychedelic rock spectrum.

By 1972, this style was growing a bit longer in the tooth and yielding to full grown prog or the soft rock boom, but Brett wasn't through exploring, and his stunningly clean playing really rescue this final Sage installment from the recycling centre. "Custom Angel Man" and "Slow Down Ma" are model examples of guitar oriented psych with surprisingly strong vocals from Brett. Side 2 is more acoustically oriented, with "Take Me Back and I Will Leave You" being the most progressive of the lot, segueing from Strawbs styled ballad to...well...Strawbs styled rocker with nary a trace of contrivance. The presence of Rod Coombes on drums and new Strawbs guitarist Dave Lambert on keys (the guitar role was pretty much under Brett's domain) might have something to do with the sound, but this is more ragged than anything that group could come up with. "Tale of a Rainy Night" and "Autumn" are also fine predominantly unplugged tunes.

In several instances, Brett veers into insipid pop territory as on "Charlene", or Christian cliche in "Saviour of the World", or filler like "Limp Willie", which predates EAGLES "Life in the Fast Lane" but otherwise reminds me why I dislike the Eagles.

This certainly can't compare favourably to Brett's late 70s work from most progressive perspectives, but it would be sage to at least arrange a trial of the "Schizophrenia" treatment if you get a chance.