THE SANE DAY

Seems to be a concept album about a guy who goes into seclusion ("Sun Is The Devil") after his girlfriend breaks up with him ("A Love Story"). He decides to go back to the town he grew up in ("Mudhill") and on his way he stops at a place called Gooberville, and the story continues from there. BEARDFISH are from Sweden and play a seventies style brand of music. This record is hugely influenced by Frank Zappa and there are hints of GENTLE GIANT and KING CRIMSON as well. The band thanks PAATOS and ANEKDOTEN in the liner notes.

The first song "A Love Story" is almost 13 minutes long with some great hammond organ and lots of keyboard melodies. The theatrical vocals towards the end are good. Part of the lyrics are "Zappa sounds nice, "Apostrophe" then ""Grand Wazoo"". Yeah, I would say ZAPPA is an influence here. "Mudhill" features some funny ZAPPA like lyrics. "The Gooberville Ballroom Dancer" may be the best song on the record and the most ZAPPA-like as well. It reminds me of "Dancing Fool" and part of the lyrics are "He was a filthy mother f#*%ker, by the name of Dwight." This is a priceless song, and so funny. The guitar melodies rock out pretty good too. "Igloo On Two" is an instrumental with some great synth solos.The sound gets psychedelic after 7 minutes. More funny lyrics on "Tall Tales" with some good harmonies and organ.The final song of the first disc is "The Summit" a heavy KING CRIMSON type tune that is a highlight of the first disc along with "The Gooberville Ballroom Dancer".

The second disc has 6 instrumentals out of the 11 songs beginning with the title track "The Sane Day". This one has piano melodies throughout that create a pastoral climate. "Waiting Room" reminds me of GENTLE GIANT with the higher pitched vocals. And "Mystique Of The Beauty Queen" reminds me of them even more with the fast paced vocals and the way they are arranged. We get Zappa-like vocals towards the end of the song as well as some great guitar and drumming. "Ask Someone Who Knows" is one of the better songs on this second disc, a good instrumental with some outstanding organ work. This disc ends like the first one with a KING CRIMSON sounding song. An instrumental with some Fripp-like guitar.

I can't help but think they could have given up on a lot of the instrumentals on the second disc and put this all on one disc instead of two. Still this is a great recording. And if your a big ZAPPA fan I know you'll love this record.

There's a lot of music to wade through here; 2 cd's and not far short of 2 hours of listening time so naturally it took a while for me to get my head around it all. It was worth the perseverance though as The Sane Day, the second album from Beardfish is an excellent release. I discovered this retrospectively having thoroughly enjoyed Sleeping in Traffic: Part 1 and although I don't rate this one quite so highly (but almost) if you enjoyed that one you'll want this too.

Beardfish are a pretty unique band. With so many post seventies Prog bands trying to sound like the seventies Prog giants it's refreshing to hear a band with a bit of originality to their sound. Having said that, paradoxically they do sound like they've stepped right out of the seventies but that's more to do with the overall sound and instrumentation of the band rather than sounding like anyone in particular. Their music is very quirky; Zappa comes to mind at times and whilst this music is firmly in the Progressive Rock camp they appear not afraid to show their Pop influences too.

A Love Song opens the album and it also happens to be the best track which could be construed as it goes downhill from here but that's not really the case as there's still much to enjoy. It's simply that it's such an excellent track and at nearly 13 minutes gives the band ample opportunity to show their chops. Starting off with a beautiful Piano intro which gives way to some lush Hammond as the band come in on a piece full of dynamics, great melodies and instrumental workouts.

There's quite a few instrumental tracks, mostly on disc 2 and some may feel that with a bit of editing it would have made a stronger single disc album. However my view is the album works well as it is, the instrumental tracks adding well to the overall flow, some being quite short forming nice bridges to the next track.

Apart from the excellent opening track highlights include The Gooberville Ballroom Dancer - definite Zappa influences here in places as well as having one of their heavier most driving guitar riffs. The first instrumental to appear, Igloo on Two is also one of the best, melodic, time/tempo changes aplenty to keep it interesting and many diverse keyboard sounds. Tall Tales and The Summit, two of the longer tracks are also very entertaining. Diverse use of instrumentation once again, effective use of dynamics; Beardfish know the importance of leaving spaces between the notes allowing the music to breathe making the heavier moments seem more intense.

On disc 2, opener and title track The Sane Day is a lovely melancholic piano dominated piece aided by some tasteful and subtle guitar and bass and brush work on the drums. In contrast, Blue Moon which follows contains one of their catchiest vocal melodies and is more up tempo ending with a dirty sounding driving guitar riff; excellent stuff! The Jazz tones of Waiting Room offer more diversification, once again those Zappa influences coming through. Love Revisited is a lovely instrumental revisiting the opening track A Love Story, played solely on piano. Now has a beautifully melancholic (once again) chord progression, Rikard Sjoblom showing as on many other tracks what a great vocalist he is with a strong grasp of melody.

From the number of reviews on this site for all the Beardfish albums I guess they're not yet that well known yet but I would recommend anyone who enjoys seventies Prog with a lot of originality to check them out and with a new album due in a few days (from the time of writing) it's a good time to give them a try. This really is excellent, timeless and an eclectic mix of music and Beardfish deserve to be a big success.

Following the release of their debut Beardfish had to face the departure of Stefan Aronsson, meaning they had also to find a new studio for recordings.Rikard Sjoblom recovered by taking over all keyboard parts and the band continued as a four piece.The next work of Beardfish would be an ambitious 2-CD effort, going by the name ''The sane day''.The album was recorded through different sessions at three different studios over a period of one year (2004-05) with a few guest contributing on additional vocals and flute.It was released independently in 2006 and reissued the following year by Progress Records along with the band's debut.

Searching for some international praise Beardfish left the Swedish language aside for an album entirely sung in English, but soundwise this was another step into the right direction for the young group.SPOCK'S BEARD appear to be Beardfish'es leading force, the band combined old days with fresh sounds and came up with a fantastic work, blending Symphonic Rock with Pop and Fusion, split on long, adventurous pieces and more accesible but extremely artistic cuts with a poppy edge.They appear to be pioneers of using analog keyboards next to modern sound distortions and the amalgam is far more than rewarding, ''The sane day'' contains intelligent, sophisticated Progressive Rock of the best quality.Not a single boring moment in here, you can feel the refreshing vibe of synthesizers and sound effects being overpowered by lovely acoustic piano themes, jazzy electric piano or the vintage Hammond organ, while the guitar work is excellent with jazzy, Fusion and melodic tendencies.GENESIS, CAMEL, GENTLE GIANT, KING CRIMSON and several other retro echoes are all over the place along with a dash of quirky Pop Rock with BEATLES-esque vocal harmonies, another section the band really shines.I get the feeling this album was created for mystifying the whole world into the majestic field of progressive music, the compositions are full of intricate melodies and impressive twists with a great respect for the masters of the movement.

The fact that two hours of progressive music flow so nice and easy is incredible.This band was here to stay, no question.Sophisticated Progressive Rock with an original aura, no less than highly recommended.

This good band from Sweden plays a dark, at times heavy music which needs several spins to catch your attention. No need to tell you that this double album is not a love at first sight, but you will rewarded if you make the effort to listen to this album and discover most of its facets.

Of course, there are some feel of retro prog in here, but it is difficult for a band to escape from these clichés and be fully original. So, let's not blaming them too much for this.

Complex and heavy stuff is combined with short and light pieces of music (''Sun Is The Devil'', ''Love Revisisted''). This is probably not how I like this band most, but this short break allows to breathe and get a more positive feel.

Not that their music is as oppressive as VDGG's one, but it is not truly accessible either. If you're looking for fine melodies and subtle instrumental parts, I'm afraid that you should head for some other type of bands.

There are even some funny moments with ''The Gooberville Ballroom Dancer'' (lyrics wise). Good combination with complex and intricate music at times (also like during ''Tall Tales'' for instance).

There are even some Canterbury feel here and there (the first couple of minutes from ''The Basic Blues''). Of course, this is not the major influence (it turns out quite heavy after a while), but it needs to be underlined as well.

Some more symphonic parts are also available. I have the tendency to like these ones more (''The Summit''). This really shows that Bearfish'' plays a diverse prog which embrace several influences. The whole being thrown in nicely even if tracks as ''Return To Mudhill'' are difficult to apprehend.

Some GG feel as well is available on this album. Just have a listen to ''Waiting Room'' or to ''Mystique.'' to get confirmed. ELP is not too far away during ''Ask Someone Who Knows'' and to complete the picture, Crimson is not absent either (''The Reason Of Constructing.'').

As you have read, references to past giants (legends) are inevitable while listening to ''Beardfish'', but I would say that the band is combining these sources of inspiration with skills and are worth a listen. They would deserve more exposure on such a site.

Three stars.

Uh, this certainly is Beardfish. But more like glimpses of them, shall I say proto-Beardfish ? These themes will later turned into more consistent piece of work in part1, then for real (and to the maximum) in part2 and hangover in part3, eh, I mean Destined Solitare, which provides full mature sound.

Keyboards, guitar style, all these other minor elements that make their music, it's here. I even realized that some parts from here were re-written later, re-used (mostly in better way) . And that this is concept album ? All their albums to some extent are to be exact. This is more, that's true (other pointed it out). But what can be applied to both discs presented here is that it's beautiful music. Often melodic, but not pathetic, with a lot of material to involve this atmospheric feeling. But for hells sake, it's not consistent. In contrast to their later work, it's somehow weak. Even it's good, it's paler than their new ones, so I'm left with no other choice than to give

5(-). I love Beardfish, but this feeling is too strong for me. Even it's funny (in classical BF style), it's good and I'm sure I'll listen it many times and often.

EDIT (Dec 10) - perfect

Double albums are often an iffy thing for me, no matter how much I love a band. I feel like the main reason for this comes from the fact that I believe that if you're making a double album, the music has to be degrees better than one would otherwise expect in order to justify the additional length. This is then taken to another level when bands start makng albums approaching 2 hours long, as it's almost certain that no matter how great the music is, 2 hours will still likely daunt the listener, and this is a big reason why I have only listened to the debut album of The Flower Kings at this point in time. This is the first album by Beardfish that I've listened to, and I can already say, while this album has flaws, I'll definitely want to be checking out the rest of their discography, as I'm highly impressed with what is presented here. There is a clear retro prog sound that the band has, taking heavy inspiration from King Crimson and Zappa in particular, with a definite feel of the more eclectic side of prog, with each song having a lot of musical ideas strewn throughout, while having the more funny, entertaining lyricism of Zappa, as well as some awesome guitar work in that sort of vein. The biggest take away I had from this album however, is how human everything sounds, while Zappa's songs were primarily based in reality, there was either an absurdist, or satirical edge that went along with many of his lyrics, where in Beardfish's case, there's a sense of comfort and fun that comes across. Their lyrics sound less like a commentary on modern life, and more like an exploration of it, which I find extremely refreshing and interesting in a genre typically filled with higher concept ideas or simply just bombast.

Despite my extremely warm impression of this band, I must admit that this album is one that I cannot fully enjoy, exactly for the reasons explained at the start, there's just too much music here for me to be able to enjoy properly. Even though I feel this way, there are without a doubt some incredible tracks to be found on here, the highlight undoubtedly, and somewhat unfortunately being the amazing opener A Love Story, which tells an emotional narrative and displays the more loose songwriting feel that the band has. The song feels simultaneously grandiose and humble, with a dramatic intro that becomes a motif throughout the song, contrasted by the story of the song, which covers a fairly down to earth topic of breakups, immediately establishing the identity of the band in a highly effective way. I love the elements of quirkiness the song incorporates as well, such as direct references to Frank Zappa albums, small sections of vocal distortion, and a line singing about wanting to scream, before then belting out a high note that never fails to put a smile on my face. Other notable songs from the first half are Tall Tales and The Gooberville Ballroom Dancer, both accentuating the wonderful lyricism at play, while also being extremely strong from a musical perspective. Tall Tales presents more mystical imagery, but once again puts it through the lens of reality by having it be told as a compilation of wild stories by someone clearly lying about their journeys, yet the whimsical nature of everything in the song makes it highly compelling to follow along nonetheless. The Gooberville Ballroom Dancer is the most bombastic song on the album by a considerable margin, telling a ridiculous, humourous story with hard hitting riffs and a lovely amount of absurdism. The high energy present here perfectly contrasts the extremely laid back Mudhill, and gives the feeling of being taken on a journey, despite the fact that the songs are all unrelated on this album. The occasional moments of heaviness or darkness found throughout the album further improves it, displaying a great variety while still sticking to its core identity, epitomised by the Fripp styled guitar playing in The Summit.

As you can see, I find the first half of the album to be excellent all around, easily a 4 star album at the very least, but the issue comes from the extremely weak second half, which starts off with 2 more gems before becoming a massive slog. Of the two songs, the titular track is a dark instrumental that moves at a much slower pace than anything else on the album, and Blue Moon is a shorter song showcasing some incredible soloing, but neither of which stand up to the powerful first half of the album. After this, there are a number of instrumental reprises of past songs, none of which do anything to grab me, since I've already heard them in their fullly realised forms. Even the actual songs on this side, such as Mystique of the Beauty Queen and The Reason of Construction and Or Building a Pyramid just do absolutely nothing for me, likely partially to do with the fact that there has already been so much music beforehand that more feels like a chore, but also because it feels like there is a considerable lack of inspiration at this point, with the majority of the top quality ideas being used up, as is often the case with albums approaching this length.

Overall, while the first half of this album is tremendous in quality, the second half falls flat on its face for the most part and dampens the listening experience by a lot. The identity of Beardfish is established very clearly here however, and it's an identity that I absolutely adore, causing me to hastily want to listen to the remaining discography of this band, as despite the mixed affair that this album is, I nonetheless already love this band. I'd recommend the first half of this record to anyone who's a fan of the heavier side of classic prog and also enjoys having some humour in their music, as this is undoubtedly something you'd find at least some enjoyment in. I look forward to listening to their other , shorter albums for sure.

Best songs: A Love Story, The Gooberville Ballroom Dancer, The Summit, Blue Moon

Weakest songs: The Basic Blues, the many instrumental interludes on the second half

Verdict: I love what this album was trying to be, and find the first half of it to be an exceptional album, extending to the first 2 tracks of the second side. After this point, it falls off hard, but even so, this is still worth a listen if you like the more classic side of prog, especially Zappa.