THE INFANT HERCULES

While Big Big Train continued to play gigs at a normal rate, material for a second demo was already written and recorded, this was going to be the second cassette of the band ''The infant Hercules'', my info say that in this format it was released only months after ''From the river to the sea'', but the band states it was launched in January 1993, propably taking about the set of CD-R copies pressed for distribution (featuring a different track order).

So, you shouldn't expect many changes within months after the band's debut album, this is fairly commercial Neo Prog, very British-styled and period sounding, definitely along the lines of JADIS and early PENDRAGON, somewhat inconsistent because of the thin, buried keyboard sound and the average production, but Big Big Train prooved again to be a bunch of musicians, who could come up with memorable tunes, a bit of pomposity in some instrumental parts and trully decent melodies.Search around the late-70's GENESIS' repertoire to find the strongest resemblances, the material is basically pretty lyrical with romantic and clean voices, cool atmospheric breaks, an evident 80's atmosphere akin to the local underground Prog scene and some fiery tunes on guitars.''Show of strength'' is one very good piece in here with good guitar and keyboard work, while the following ''Red five'' even contains minor complexities in its all instrumental approach and some rougher edges in all its aspects.''Kingmaker'', a 10-min. attempt by the band, is, in my opinion, the best cut among all tracks from the band's early demos, very JADIS-like, with dramatic and ethereal moments, lyrical tension and a couple of superb, slow guitar parts.

At this point the whole thing about Big Big Train was to find the way to escape from their influences.Another solid work with a clear 80's-fashioned sound, suitable to those loving raw, underground British Prog.Good stuff.

"The Infant Hercules" is the second demo album release by UK progressive rock act Big Big Train. The album was originally released in 1993 through through Least Perculiar Music/Avalon Records (on CD). It´s the follow-up release to "From the River to the Sea" from 1991, which was originally a demo album release, which the band then opted to reissue in 1992 as their debut album. The band´s website lists "The Infant Hercules" under albums, so I´ll refer to this as their second full-length studio album.

There have been a couple of lineup changes since "From the River to the Sea" as drummer Pete Hibbit has been replaced by Steve Hughes and keyboard player Tony Müller has been replaced by Ian Cooper.

"The Infant Hercules" features 7 tracks and a total playing time of 39:54 minutes. Opening track "Far Distant Thing" was recorded professionally at 24-track Parklands studios, while the remaining tracks were recorded using an 8-track analogue tape recorder. Most of the tracks were recorded in one take and only a few overdubs were made afterwards, making this a relatively crude recording considering the usually high standards of Big Big Train.

Stylistically this is Big Big Train developing on their early melodic/melancholic progressive rock style and it´s not much different from what you hear on "From the River to the Sea" (IQ, Marillion, and late 70s Genesis influenced progressive rock). Not many of the tracks from "The Infant Hercules" have survived to the band´s current setlists but a couple of been re-recorded/ reissued along the way. Although "Far Distant Thing" was not initially included on "Goodbye to the Age of Steam" (1994), the 2011 reissue of the album includes a remixed version of "Far Distant Thing" as bonus material. The closing 9:25 minutes long epic "Kingmaker" was re-recorded with David Longdon on vocals during the recording sessions for the "Far Skies Deep Time" (2010) EP, but was actually not included on the first version of the EP, which featured the Anthony Phillips cover "Master of Time" instead. Subsequent versions of "Far Skies Deep Time" however includes the re-recorded version of "Kingmaker" where it replaces "Master of Time". Some of the most recent reissues of the EP features both tracks.

Just like "From the River to the Sea", "The Infant Hercules" is an early Big Big Train release that you can more or less just pass by. This is a band which got much better with time and I´d say this is predominantly a release for the hardcore fans. It´s not a bad quality release but it´s not of the quality you´d normally expect from the band either. A 2.5 - 3 star (55%) rating is warranted.