GARDEN SHED

This very little known British band from the 70's was playing a nice blend of elements of GENESIS and YES without sounding like a clone. Especially the bass playing sounds very much Squire-reminiscent (must be a Rickenbacher probably). The music is kept most of the time in a very light and cheerful mood, quite melodic and therefore bands like Supertramp or Ambrosia might come as well into one's mind. Compositions are at least to a certain extent intricate, but appear in some way as well a bit soulless and constructed. The music sounds playful, structure of the songs seams to be GENESIS-alike, harmonies and vocals more YES-alike, but in fact more at the level of later YES releases like "Tormato". The result of this blend actually never reaches the level of albums like "Close To The Edge" or "Selling England By The Pound". As well the very high-pitched voice sounds at some moments a bit too much like a trial of emulating Anderson's and sometimes even unbearable. Nevertheless it's a nice album of 70's light Prog-sound. Best songs are "Poisoned Youth" (the very best one), "Midnight Madness" and "Three Piece Suite". The album is very difficult to get, it has been put on CD once, but taking the vinyl as master and there is a very expensive remastered import-CD available. I'm really not that sure whether it's worth to do the investment. I would not regard it as an essential album in a prog collection. 3 stars for this album!