FOUR MOMENTS

I have always found this album a bit overrated. It isn't bad, but there are a few cheesy passages I can do without. Granted, guitarist Mario Millo was just 20 when they recorded and released Four Moments (first on Polydor in Australia, then in the States a year later on Mercury), and he seemed to get that Andy Latimer/Jan Akkerman style down pat. Plus Toivo Pilt gives some nice use of Mellotron. Then you have to bear in mind the band hails from Australia, not exactly a prog rock hotbed (apparently the country was known for an unforgiving pub scene that made it difficult for such bands playing such music). The album starts off with a four movement title suite. Themes recur to let you know what you're listening to, but there is no denying the Mellotron work, that's basically what I bought the album for. "Rosanna" is their "Focus III" (the song), it's arranged similar, but some of the cheesiness is hard for me to take in (something I wouldn't say of "Focus III" itself), while the closing "Openings" is a fantastic instrumental in a Pink Floyd/Camel vein.

There are some prog albums I just simply find overrated, but not bad, and this is one of them.