QUEST FOR THE STONES

Yak have been putting out a string of releases that have essentially consisted of them struggling to find their feet. The unexpected success of Dark SIde of the Duck - essentially a solo project by Martin Morgan putting some old Yak compositions on record for posterity's sake - saw a brief experiment in the old line-up getting back together which yielded a couple of inessential oddities (Does Your Yak Bite? and The Rutland Chronicles) before they went their separate ways again. Journey of the Yak was essentially a blueprint for Yak Mk. II, with new collaborators Gary Bennett and Dave Speight signing on and a new Yak lineup solidifying in the process of recording the pieces there.

With this album, everything seems to have finally come together for Yak, with a stable lineup allowing them to bring to fruition a newly matured sound in the form of two epic pieces (they'd be side-long numbers in the days of vinyl) which take Yak's all-instrumental Camel-inspired style to new heights. Perfectly matching the high fantasy concepts their titles suggest, the pieces feature excellent keyboard work from Morgan who really has space to stretch out his wings here - no doubt to the surprise of anyone who thought that yaks couldn't fly. All the hard work of previous albums has yielded fruit here, and the end result is magnificent.