THE SPELL

Despite a 'The Enid' name on the album covers and the fact they were all issued on 'The Enid' label, the eighties albums from these guys are really all duos with Robert John Godfrey and Stephen Stewart, accompanied as necessary (or when possible) by a few friends and acquaintances. I can't point to something specific that is lacking musically in this lineup, but in the end after playing these records many times I have to say that they just don't capture the same spark the band had when it was an actual band.

While some of their seventies records tended to be a bit more lush in terms of their musical arrangements and variety of instrumentation, Godfrey does a decent job during these middle years for the band by simulating just about every non-guitar sound needed on his keyboards (although Dave Storey does return once again to provide percussion). The record starts off giving the impression its going to be another all-instrumental like their first four albums as "Winter" launches the record with a series of flourishing fanfares before settling into a rather laconic orchestral work. The transition to "Spring" is abrupt and awkward, and the arrangement is repetitive and not particularly noteworthy.

Godfrey seems to have become enamored of vocals and their potential to turn synthesized classical music into somewhat of a campy stage production almost halfway through the album when he starts in with his Gollum-like crooning on the "Summer" movement of the four seasons 'symphony' that dominates this record. Stewart jumps in almost immediately, and the two of them sound a bit like the Eric Woolfson-era Alan Parsons vocals but with a more classical feel to the music. Those who are familiar with 'Something Wicked This Way Comes' will immediately recognize the same style on this track.

"Autumn" is almost all synthesized with very little guitar as both Godfrey and Stewart spend most of their time behind their respective keyboards while Storey offers grandiose and striking percussive flourishes throughout. This is much more like the music that endeared the band to fans in their earliest years and I would say is the strongest composition on the album as a whole.

I suppose "Elephants Never Die" was added to give the album some length, and once again it comes off as a stage production full of campy vocals and guitar riffs, and in the end doesn't quite fit with the rest of the music on the album.

The closing "The Sentimental Side of Mrs. James" is a requiem to a son lost at sea, and offers possibly the best blend of Godfrey's vocals with the unique classically-inspired Enid sound. A nice ending to a somewhat uneven studio work.

But for fans who have the CD version this isn't quite the end, as Godfrey and Stewart include a lengthy live version of the band's signature song "The Song of Fand" (aka as just "Fand") to fill out the disc. This is a great example of the band at their finest and one of the better 'bonus' tracks I've heard on a CD in quite some time.

The Godfrey/Stewart incarnation of the Enid doesn't have quite the range of the original band, but overall this is a whole lot better than just about any contemporary rock that came out around the same time and arguably better than most of the sparse catalog of prog rock available from the eighties. Not the finest work from The Enid, but worthy of three (out of five) stars and worth picking up by fans of the band.

peace