EVER SENSE THE DAWN

I suppose you could call it folk-prog due to the lack of drums; I tend to think of the instrumentation more as a strong string quartet with added electric bass and light keyboards. The music at times has an almost Elizabethan feel to it, especially when harpsichord is present. Vocal harmonies abound throughout and one particular vocalist has a Justin Hayward-styled "hook" to his voice ("Lady", "The Island Of Light") which would lead one to think that these were two of the reasons that the Moody Blues signed Providence to their Threshold label. While the influence of the Moody Blues is clearly evident, Providence is by no means a clone of the Moodies - their styles and approach are quite different from each other. Although I like the Moody Blues very much their music sometimes suffers from an overabundance of bombast which is thankfully absent here.

Themes of Nature feature prominently in the lyrics to their pastoral songs, especially the sea, oceans, streams, and rivers, which tend to be used as allegories or metaphors for the human condition, as well as mountains, trees. stars and the sun. The lack of hard rock instrumentation and the reliance on such naturalistic lyrical elements also contribute to the feeling that the music has it's roots in a pre-industrial age. The song "Lady", with it's reference to it's title character playing a zither and dreaming of her man at sea also evokes a feeling of days gone by. Even the cover art points in this direction; the front cover features a photo of Mt. Hood as seen through a ships porthole, the inside gatefold shows portraits of the band superimposed over the widows of a sailing ship, and the back cover has a group photo of the musicians playing (except for a Fender bass) all acoustic instruments in a grassy clearing with trees in the background.

In my opinion the best song on the album is "If We Were Wise", a song which questions just how smart we humans really are, even in our love lives . Other notable songs are: "Mountain", "Isle Of Light" and "Smile".

As for the quality of the recording, I believe that this album was never mastered properly from the start. Over many years I have acquired many copies of the US LP, looking for one with decent sound, including a new-old-stock still sealed example and all were found to be wanting even when played on a VPI turntable with a Blue Point Special cartridge/needle. The 2008 Retro Disc International "remastered" CD is only slightly better. While all show good lows, the mids are muddy and the highs distorted to the point of distraction at times. In my opinion this recording deserves to have a proper remastering done from the original multi-tracks, if possible.

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