THE FIVE SEASONS

Another solid Fairport album from the group's Maartin Allcock era (1985-96) which starts off with a bang with a great hard rocking arrangement of the traditional song Claudy Banks that packs great vocal and musical hooks as well as loud killer drums from the always impressive Dave Mattacks (why a metal band never sought out his talents is a mystery, at least bands like XTC did) and a great vocal from Simon Nicol that keeps you glued to this six minute track.

The band returns to more familiar musical ground on excellent songs like Gold and Rhythm Of The Time, along with the instrumental romp Mock Morris '90, before the band stumbles into the album's only mistake, a hard rock song with corny lyrics titled Sock It To Me.

The band make up for that one blunder with the album's mock orchestral closing song the emotionally moving The Wounded Whale, which just might be FC's only true progressive rock song ever recorded. Not quite as good as the albums Red And Gold or the exceptional Jewel In The Crown which followed, The Five Seasons easily continued FC's eighties and nineties musical renaissance. 3 stars.