HARVEST

Marble halls and Jaws! If you ever happen to find yourself beetling around the back streets of ancient Athens, then you may just run into this fine band of merry minstrels. Ciccada are one of the heaviest Prog-Folk bands you're ever likely to hear this side of the Peloponnesian peninsula. Their third and most recent album to date is a veritable Harvest of great songs, all fully ripened and sun-blessed with Greek goodness and ready for reaping. Harvest is undoubtedly the best of three albums released so far, which occasionally borders on Folk Metal, sounding heavier at times than any album I know of by Jethro Tull or the Strawbs, even though Jethro Tull once won a Grammy Award for best Heavy Metal band, ahead of Metallica! This is evergreen pastoral folk imbued with the peaceful solitude of Greek marble halls, combined with sudden hammerhead shark attacks of hard and heavy rock, sounding something akin to an iron fist wrapped in a velvet glove, the like of which we haven't heard since Gryphon first graced our airwaves. The delightful music of the Ciccada septet is very reminiscent of Mostly Autumn, so if you're a fan of Heather Findlay, Iain Jennings and Bryan Josh & Co, then you'll be in for a real Greek treat here. In ancient folklore, the cicada beetle was a symbol of carefree living and immortality, and so it is with this free-loving band of Greek troubadours, who deserve to be around for many years yet. You'll be pleasantly surprised to hear all of the lyrics are in English too - the international language of prog (and air traffic control). The charming music of Ciccada sounds as quintessentially English as a game of cricket with strawberries and cream on an English summer lawn, with not a bouzouki or Greek lyre to be heard anywhere. You won't be stumped or on a sticky wicket with Ciccada's previous two fine albums either as they're both real belters and well-above batting average. In conclusion then, the sweet and endearing music of Ciccada is as warm and inviting as a Mediterranean Summer Breeze blowing through the jasmine of your mind, but the lovely sun-blessed album we have here is truly a Harvest for the World. And so, the next time you hear a cicada chirping away in the rainforest, maybe it'll bring back fond memories of Greek band Ciccada, or far more likely, the distinctive yell of Tarzan as he swings on a vine through the jungle, Uh- oh, Chongo!