BABYLON

What? A symphonic prog band from Florida? In 1978? PA never ceases to surprise me! I had never heard of this band and I was quite curious about it when I saw some of the reviews. It seems that their forte was playing live with lots of multi media stuff and theatrics. Since I was unable to get a hold of one of their live CDs I had to rely entirely on Babylon´s solo studio offering. And it is not bad! Ok, it is far from original, but they did write some very fine tunes in the mid period Genesis mold. Put some Yes (specially the bass parts) and Vand Der Graaf Generator influences in the mix and voilá: you have Babylon.

Hearing this CD I get the feeling that this group was very promising. If the sound is maybe too Genesis-copy, the vocals are not. And even the instrumental parts show that they coud get pretty far giving time and opportunity. But, alas, this was not to be. In many aspects they remid me of Marillion, a group that started doing something similar. Like Babylon Marillion sounded a lot like early Genesis (even in the vocal department) in the beginning but soon found their sound and became one fo the greatest prog acts of the world. I can only wonder if this talented bunch could go that far. For they could, unlike most other Genesis clones, write real melodic and outstanding songs.

There is only four tracks in this very short album (a little over 34 minutes of playing time). But they are very fine ones. Production is quite good for the time too. The ten minute epic Before th eFall is the highlight of this CD to me, excellent tune with beautiful Hackett -like guitar lines.

Conclusion: a very good surprise. If you´re into 70´s symphonic classic stuff, this is surely one you should listen to, as long as you don´t mind the fact that their influences were still quite evident in their music. Since I´m a huge fan of Genesis, I´m delighted with what I heard. I can´t really say it is essential in any way but still very good. So my rating is somewhere 3 and 3,5 stars.