CREST OF A KNAVE

Well this time I like to remind you of this underrated and sometimes easy-listening album, because even a folk prog band such as J.T. (so famous all over the world for quite a time), had to adjust itself to the commercial exigencies of the early eighties, by keeping up with the times!!The opening track was a diverse song, in comparison to their complex music standard inside their "magical" and anyway successful albums (except on the complex and much more controversial work entitled "A Passion Play" ); but since the first notes concerning the second song -" Farm On The Freeway" - you could find their typical sound, by means of a pleasant flute, followed by an interesting vocal intro by Anderson and above all the stunning guitar playing...well "Said she was a dancer", charged with the easy- listening sound, was nothing more than a simple ballad, a bit criticized by the critics;instead "Dogs in the mid of winter" was treated in the same manner as the opener of the album, but it was an unremarkable note at the end. In fact after a few minutes of normal rock music, you could listen to a real prog folk gem like "Budapest", much more complex than their previous songs and characterized by a delicious harmonization performed by some of the most skillful British musicians all together !!Certainly "Mountain Men" and the other last two tracks were not equal to "Budapest", but however you could find interesting features within...I don't know whether such features are still enough nowadays to make it consider well worth checking out, but this album could be a pleasant rediscovery of their catchy stuff of the eighties, quite valuable anyway!