IN THE REGION OF THE SUMMER STARS

First let me state that I am reviewing the 2012 remaster of the original 1976 album and not the 80's re-recording.

I am always excited to read about other symphonic rock bands of the 70s and when I read about the Enid in Stephen Lambe's book "Citizens of Hope and Glory: The Story of Progressive Rock" I was eager to give them a listen. After some sneak peeks (or sneaks listens) to samples of songs on Amazon, I ordered the album and I was not disappointed.

Most surprisingly is that while Yes and some other bands were recording rock music in a symphonic vein, the Enid appear to have been recording symphonic music in a rock vein. All tracks except for "The Lovers" (a piano solo) feature symphonic instruments with drums, bass, and electric guitar being just instruments in the symphony and not comprising a rock band that is playing with a symphony. For a debut album, the music is remarkably bold and complex. From the beginning, Robert Godfrey wanted this band to do things differently from other rock bands.

Aside from "The Lovers" which is beautiful but a little dull to me, the album is very enjoyable to listen to from start to finish. I normally have great impatience when listening to a new album as I want to find the songs I like the most and listen to them a lot. However, with "In the Region of the Summer Stars" I had a difficult time whittling down the number of songs to three or four favourites. I can now say that I enjoy "Fool / The Falling Tower", "The Devil", "The Last Judgement", and the title track best, but mention should go to "The Sun" and "Death, the Reaper" which I also enjoy.

This is not an album for everyone and I am surprised that I like it as much as I do. But this is one of those albums that really illustrate just how far progressive rock bands could go even in 1976 when prog is said to have been on its way out of fashion.

Not an album for everyone, not an album for any time, an artistic expression unlike many others. A sound so vivid and epic at the same time, conceived in these often rainy and gloomy parts of the world, though still expressing a melancholia and optimism at the same time, round about the region of the summer stars...

An unconventional soundtrack for summer and winter, the first album under the The Enid moniker bears more resemblance to the music of Ennio Morricone, rather than "typical" progressive rock of the 70's. Classical music re- invented? Possibly. In fact, listening through its (sadly, only) 39 minutes, sceneries and movie excerpts come in mind, via pompous orchestration, sliding guitar phrases, dreamy piano and flute parts. The mood shifts quite often from the epic/grandiose/scary (yes, that too) to total tranquility and back again to complete the dance of emotions. If I had to look for references in prog rock, then those would be early Genesis and Renaissance.

The "vintage" feeling is portrayed in "The Lovers" and "The Sun", the adventure in "Fool/The Falling Tower" and "The Devil" in haunting atmospheres, and the climax is reached (intentionally?) in the closing two compositions, unraveling the quality and inspiration behind this record.

Beware: I find myself listening to this on repeat for numerous times and the same effect might have on you. You have been warned.

5 (rainy) summer stars

After reviewing all the new released The Enid albums I have a different idea about the band. Their latest album Invicta (2012) is really good. And was sad to hear about the Robert John Godfrey disease. But truth be told, In The Region Of The Summer Stars (1976), The Enid first album, is a 'love or hate' case. Probably because is soaked in Classical Music, and then we can see that was always the band intentions since the very beginning,

But, on the other hand, for some people, like myself, the 'too much classical music' feeling is bigger than the 'Prog Rock' feeling, and this kills my enjoyment. I like bands that do a crossover of sound in the Symphonic area. but I like the middle term, not just one side of the coin. And despite the fact that we have many nice moments in the album, the overall feeling is that something went wrong. Is way to orchestral for my taste.

I can see why so many 5 stars the album receives, but I just can't cope with them.

This is an album which inspires a lot of "Ifs" from me. If it had just been released a few years earlier... if the Enid and their mastermind Robert John Godfrey hadn't had such a turbulent career... if they hadn't been forced to re-record the album for CD reissue for ridiculous legal reasons... if any of these factors had been different, I wonder whether we'd regard the Enid as one of the top-flight prog bands of the 1970s. They might have had a shot, since they are one of a select group of bands - such as Genesis, Yes, King Crimson, or Gentle Giant - who could say that they carved out a style in the 1970s which was uniquely their own and could be instantly recognised as such.

Quite simply, no other band quite managed to bring together a combination of classical music techniques and styles, high-calibre technical proficiency and musicianship, and emotional breadth and depth as the Enid - and it's the emotional aspects of the music which are given priority. From the playfulness of the Fool, to the fear evoked by The Last Judgement or Death, to the warmth of The Lovers and The Sun, the compositions never fail to evoke an incredible depth of feeling that other bands of the time sometimes struggle to convey - and all without saying a word.

I highly recommend seeking out the original version of the album - I first heard the rerecording, which left me cold, but the original opened my eyes to what the Enid could do. Supposedly, Godfrey intends to do another rerecording, as part of a project to produce final, definitive editions of all the Enid albums; I'd be interested to hear how that turns out, though for now I will enjoy the 1975 version, vinyl hiss and all.

This is a truly astonishing debut album. I bought it when it was released after hearing a BBC session that the Band had done for the legendary "Saturday Afternoon Rock Show" that was presented by Alan "Fluff" Freeman (not 'arf!). I don't think that the session was ever broadcast, but back in those heady days I worked at the BBC and tape copies of good (some great) sessions used to be passed around the engineering staff.

The yheme of this album is Tarot Cards, and each section is supposed to represent a Card. "The Lovers" (a pseudo-Rachmaninov piano solo - that I subsequently learned to play myself) is the only non-band item - it's essentially RJG solo. It's utterly gorgeous (as befits the topic).

My favourite section of the album is (probably) the latter part of Side Two, but as others have mentioned this is the kind of album that you can play all the way through, and in some respects is best heard that way. The quality of composition and the standard of the musicianship is truly outstanding - far ahead of anything even vaguely comparable from that era. It is a unique album in many ways, and is almost beyond the progressive rock genre that it uneasily fits into - this is symphonic prog on a majestic scale.

It may be that many listeners will not agree with my rating of this unusual and iconic album, but please give it a little time - if you don't "get it" at a first or second listen, come back to it after a little while, and notice all the little details that you missed on your previous listens.... It's really worth the effort!

A truly wonderful album.