PROPHETS, SEERS & SAGES - THE ANGELS OF THE AGES

Bolan and Took open this one with Deboraarobed, a song which goes into reverse in the middle so the second half is the first half played backwards. Although it begins with such a declaration of their willingness to experiment, the album by and large presents a refined and tightened up version of their sound from their debut. That said, there's definite instrumental improvement on both players' accounts - Steve Took, in particular, seems to be playing his percussion instruments purposefully as opposed to just noodling - and they manage to pack sufficient surprises and unexpected twists into sub-two minute songs such as Stacey Grove to keep things interesting. The expanded range of percussion instruments utilised by Cook is a particular help in broadening and diversifying the sound and making the best of the group's increased confidence. The weak point at this point is Bolan's vocals - it's not that he isn't a bad singer, he was great throughout his entire career, but the recording quality slurs his words and makes his hippy-dippy lyrics hard to even recognise, let alone actually understand. Like the last one, pleasant but not compelling.