VOICE

A friend of my father once wanted to get rid of his vinyl collection. So my father got home with a crate full of records, mostly progressive and jazz. This is one of the album that immediately got my attention due to it's strange cover; the zipped lips. I remember hearing this album for the first time. Side 1 was just a bunch of folky songs with some funk elements. Nothing special. While side 2 had the long epic "Circumstances" that was really interesting. After some repeated listening I find side 1 pretty boring. The songs are all pretty mediocre pop-folk songs. Take intro account that 2 of the 4 songs are covers. The first song is a cover of the band Affinity. The original song is a great jazz song with psychedelic influences, whereas Capability's verion is a radio friendly funk song. The other cover is a Steely Dan cover that has nothing to offer. The 2 original songs are better. "Sad I Am" is a CSN&Y sounding folk song with great vocal harmonies. This is my favorite song on the album. The other orignal is a Foghat/Little Feat kinda boogie funk song "Keep Death Off the Road". It's kinda boring. I just can't understand that this band tries to come off as an 'arty' progressive group but choose to include 2 covers and a boogie song... On the internet I find people only praising side 2 and I can relate to them. Side 2 is the only reason why you would like this album. Nevertheless, I don't find the song that interesting anymore. It makes me think of too many other songs. "Circumstances" begins with a melody borrowed from "Epitaph" by King Crimson. Then it goes into this barber shop vocal harmonies which is the best part for me. But it just doesn't flow together. It feels like this is another song, actually the entire song feels more like different parts glued together instead of one long epic... After the barber shop vocals you get a more folky part that sounds like Jethro Tull. Following is a heavy part with the 'aah's that sound the same as "Gypsy" from Uriah Heep. Next is a more mellow part that make me think of Gentle Giant and ends with a Yes "Close to the Edge" fade. The ending 'Goodbye baby' I find really boring and make me think of Steely Dan somehow. Also knowing that side 1 features a Steely Dan cover, it's not so surprising.

So all in all I can relate to people who love this album thanks to "Circumstances". It's a nice song, but for me it sounds pieced together by taking bits of different prog bands. Take an entire side like Yes' "Close to the Edge" and put in some King Crimson, some Gentle Giant, some Uriah Heep, some Steely Dan and put in some of your own funkyness and vocal harmonies and you got yourself a prog epic. That's not how it works. I wanted to rate this album 2,5 stars, but because many people give a 4 stars rating I feel like I need to balance it out by rounding down to 2 stars