INDIAN SUMMER

One of those forgotten nuggets from England. Your basic quartet playing average sized numbers (around the six min lenght but full of energy and all of the things an old proghead like loves dearly. Everyone of those tracks are fairly strong , upbeat and full of good interplay. This album came out on the Neon label (quite collectible nowadays) along with other small pearls among which Spring , Tonton Macoute - both worth seeking out - but you do not need to dish out major cash because this has been released on Repertoire record for a while now.

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Posted Tuesday, February 3, 2004 | Review this album | Report (Review #27123)

Fan of early 70's acid prog aka GRAVY TRAIN will drool over Coventry's "Indian Summer". This album is loaded will lots of driving rhythms and "psychy" musical passages with emphasis on keyboards and guitars. Vocals (Bob Jackson) are quite good and have a certain wildness about them which either you will love or hate. Although fairly heavy musically speaking, "Indian Summer" do resonate with a cetain Cantebury leanings actually and at times remind me of a heavier version of CARAVAN. Songs are well written and do carry a certain dark atmosphere to them which I do enjoy. The fine folks at Repertoire have done a wonderful job of enhancing the recording and speaker seperation is actually quite good. Most importantly, "Indian Summer" have a very original and professional sound quality to their music and they were clearly one of the better bands who had far too short an existence. This is one of those albums which once you get into, you will cherish fondly forever... full of lots of razzle & dazzle.

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Posted Tuesday, March 16, 2004 | Review this album | Report (Review #27127)

INDIAN SUMMER was a little known one-shot British prog rock band that released this self-entitled album and disappeared. The album was originally released on RCA's Neon subdivision, the same label that brought us acts like SPRING, Mike WESTBROOK, RAW MATERIAL, The RUNNING MAN, and TOUTON MACOUTE. INDIAN SUMMER's music is typical early '70s prog rock dominated by Hammond organ with some Mellotron. The opening song, "God is the Dog" is obviously the band's protest against religion, and despite that, it's actually one of the better songs on the album. But the album also has its flaws: the album gets bogged down by several pointless solos that go nowhere, specifically on the final cut, "Another Tree Will Grow". The band needed to either cut off the excess fat, or made the solos more interesting for me to regard it as a classic.

Other interesting things of note: the cover artwork is by Keef, same guy responsible for Rod Stewart's Gasoline Alley, BLACK SABBATH's debut album, COLOSSEUM's "Valentyne Suite", CRESSIDA's "Asylum", MANFRED MANN's "Chapter III's Vol. 2", and many others. Also INDIAN SUMMER's debut was one of only two Neon titles released in America (the other being "Centipede's Septober Energy", but it didn't surface in America until 1974, three years after its original UK release, and by which point, Neon ceased to exist, so it was released in the US on the standard RCA/Victor label). The American version of the Indian Summer label was also Neon (uses the same label), but I suggest you avoid buying the American LP because by that time, RCA in America was printing their albums on the crap Dynaflex (that was their silly company trademark of ridiculously flimsy vinyl - supposedly to help stop warping - at the expense of sound quality, which of course, RCA failed to mentioned, and started ripping people off in the process), which means crappy sound quality, so go for either the British LP, or the CD reissue on Repertoire.

Anyway, because of the excess baggage on some of the cuts, this album fulls short of a classic for me, but it's still not bad, especially if you like early British prog.

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Posted Sunday, May 2, 2004 | Review this album | Report (Review #27125)

An intriguing album made in the early 70s. Its very psych oriented and the tracks are fairly short but heavy/energetic as well. I would give this a 4.5/5 star rating but the album overall is a little redundent/not much variety among the songs. Still, if you are into the more rare albums in the prog world, this is a good find!

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Posted Thursday, May 26, 2005 | Review this album | Report (Review #27129)

As a hugh fan from the Early British Progressive Movement I should have bought this album much earlier but due to many different reasons, ranging from out of stock to out of money, I purchased this 'cult album' recently after reading all those many four - and five star ratings on this site. My general impression of the music is OK: Hammond organ-based (along some violin-Mellotron waves) prog that sounds typical early Seventies, pleasant songs, some nice guitar soli and good vocals. Although I enjoyed this album, I prefer similar bands like Beggar's Opera, Gracious, Spring, Julian's Treatment and Fantasy because their compositions sound more compelling and refined. Nonetheless, I rate this CD for a well deserved three stars. THIS IS A VERY PLEASANT HAMMOND DRENCHED EARLY PROGROCK SESSION!

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Posted Thursday, June 23, 2005 | Review this album | Report (Review #37399)

An unremarkable Rock album.

Unfortunately "Indian Summer" sounds like so many other bands around at this time, except they lack the 'X' factor so important to make them stand out from the crowd - many great bands had it but not here, the musicianship is excellent as is the sound quality of the album, but the "songs" are forgettable, unstructured, they all really sound like thrown together jam sessions with extended solos, and like some other bands of this period is let down by poor vocals - I wish this band had taken their project more seriously and found a proper songwriter and singer,they could have done better than this and it would have lifted their fine musicianship into classic status. Few musicians can sing and play well at the same time, here the vocals are flat, tuneless and strained, like a very tired Steve Winwood meets Arthur Brown.

The music is all standard rock music of the period, not really Psyche or Prog rock, a few cliches with the odd mellotron passage thrown in may have swung their inclusion in PA, the playing is brilliant and is a shame this could have been a good album and not consigned to the bargain bin of history.

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Posted Monday, September 10, 2007 | Review this album | Report (Review #137520)

Indian Summer from 1971 is among the most underrated from early'70's hevy prog, with a lot to offer, from keyboard driving interplays to soaring guitars and good vocal parts. When i discovered this band i was really impressed by their structures and exellent musicianship. While they never hit the big time with this album, being under the same management as Black Sabbath, they also manage to creat something of real intrest for prog listners, with some very fine moments. Indian Summer plays that typical early '70 heavy prog with long instrumental passages, keyboard meets guitar interplays and a solid bass lines over it. I really like this underrated album for two reasons: one is among the best heavy prog i've heared from early '70, and second because thy don't really sound as anything from that period, haveing a sound of their own, not really heavy like Sabbath for example but not really symphonic like Genesis, they manage to be in the middle. Any single piece stands as good as can get from a heavy prog band with no boring moments. Anyway great discovery for me and a damn good album from golden era of prog. Recommended 4 star for sure.

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Posted Wednesday, October 29, 2008 | Review this album | Report (Review #187322)

Very interesting obscure british heavy prog band of the early 70´s. If you enjoy lots of Hammond and some soulful vocals, don´t miss this one. Their sound reminds me of a cross between The Doors and Uriah Heep at the time (without the heavy guitars, though) with some Traffic percussion flavors thrown in for good measure. The guitar player is good but he is definitly more into 60´s jazz and psychodelia than to the 70´s heavy rock. There are some good interpley between guitar and keyboards. The songwriting department was a little green yet and it is the only flaw I could find in this album. Even the production and overall sound are above average for the time.

It´s a good album, but nothing more than that. Given time this could have been a great band, but somehow they just broke up after this one. Which I think it´s a shame. They had such potential...

Anyway, Indian Summer is an album worth buying, if you like early 70´s rock like Paladin. I liked it. 3 stars.

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Posted Thursday, October 30, 2008 | Review this album | Report (Review #187428)

This album really sounds like your typical Proto-Prog album with lots of organ and some mellotron. Not a big fan of the vocalist who sounds like he's yelling the lyrics. These guys can certainly play, i'm just not digging the tunes that much.

"God Is The Dog" I guess is their anti-religion song. Drums and organ lead the way early, vocals a minute in. The focus becomes on the vocals the rest of the way.They do get passionate at times. "Emotions Of Men" sounds good once it kicks in. It sounds very 60's to me. Mostly organ, drum and vocal led although there is a guitar solo 2 minutes in. "Glimpse" is more of the same although I can hear the bass clearly as the guitar solos after 2 1/2 minutes. "Half Changed Again" kicks in before 3 minutes thankfully. Drums and vocals dominate. Organ takes the place of the vocals 4 minutes in.

"Black Sunshine" is one I just can't get into at all. "From The Film Of The Same Name" is an instrumental with some good drum work and prominant bass. Good song. "Secrets Reflected" is laid back with reserved vocals although they do get passionate later. "Another Tree Will Grow" features prominate drums and organ and the vocals are deeper.The tempo picks up 1 1/2 minutes in.The guitar comes in and lights it up until after 5 minutes. Nice. Organ and vocals return.

If you like Proto-Prog check this band out otherwise you might be a little disappointed like I was. Barely 3 stars.

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Posted Saturday, June 6, 2009 | Review this album | Report (Review #220068)

Maybe it's because the voice of Malcolm Harker, very similar to David Byron but it looks like this is the early Uriah Heep missed album. This is good hard-rock with some hints of psychedelia.

The huge use of organ on all the tracks makes it a product of its time, Not bad at all and very promising as debut. Unfortunately without a follow-up.

In few words, a good-to-know album, highly enjoyable but that doesn't offer more than what Uriah Heep or Deep Purple offered at the same time. It's more psych oriented than the two mentioned bigs and this is its strenght.

It fits perfectly in the 3 stars definition, but people who likes the mixture of hard-rock and psych typical of the early 70s will really like it.

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Posted Wednesday, September 1, 2010 | Review this album | Report (Review #296957)

INDIAN SUMMER were a traditional four-piece English band from Coventry in the West Midlands. The band had their brief moment in the late summer sunshine when they released their one and only self-titled album in 1971, shortly before splitting up the following year, presumably at the onset of aut ... (read more)

Report this review (#2311390) | Posted by Psychedelic Paul | Saturday, February 1, 2020 | Review Permanlink

3,5 stars in fact. Simply said, i like this album (and its Keef cover too). It has some nice and fairly melancholic athmosphere. Stylistically, its a typical early 70s protoprog blend of 60s psychedelia, jazzrock, blues and some soul and proggy elements too. All musicians are really very good, e ... (read more)

Report this review (#836157) | Posted by Obersturmbannprogger | Wednesday, October 10, 2012 | Review Permanlink

The gently side of hard prog. "Indian Summer" is a very good album. It's a classic hard prog in gothic style with beautiful organ solos. The band (formed in Birmingham in 1969) was discovered by the same manager of Bakerloo and Black Sabbath. The voice of Bob Jackson is a classic hard-rock ... (read more)

Report this review (#368410) | Posted by Dark Nazgul | Thursday, December 30, 2010 | Review Permanlink

I simply love the Hammond organ based sound of Indian Summer. Add some soul, guitars and spacy melodies and you have the 1970s heaven. Well, one of them. This English band only released this album before they splintered up and the members went in all direction. Most of them as a backing band ... (read more)

Report this review (#246911) | Posted by toroddfuglesteg | Wednesday, October 28, 2009 | Review Permanlink

You should have a copy of this fine early 70s work if you like CLOUDS, SPRING, CRESSIDA, FIELDS, RARE BIRD et al. Classic English early keyboard/guitar led prog with some fine songs as already described in earlier reviews. Great Keef cover too! ... (read more)

Report this review (#134518) | Posted by Starless | Thursday, August 23, 2007 | Review Permanlink

Not too original name, but very good music. I don't know much about the band, I think they had the same manager as Black Sabbath. But, back to the music. The whole album is very relaxing (maybe it's the production?), very ballad I think. Surely it's not hard rock. Guitars are not very heavy, voca ... (read more)

Report this review (#107390) | Posted by Deepslumber | Saturday, January 13, 2007 | Review Permanlink

Many years ago I bought this album as one of a few remaining items left in a record store that was about to close down. What struck me initially was the albums resemblance in many ways to that of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid"; the four band member's photograph on the inside gatefold, Jim Si ... (read more)

Report this review (#99058) | Posted by deltic14 | Thursday, November 16, 2006 | Review Permanlink

I have read many good things about this release, so when I finally bought it and listened tot it, my expectations were high. And I wasn't disappointed. This band can be placed in the same league as the other early British progressive like Cressida, Spring and Beggar's Opera. The music is no ... (read more)

Report this review (#75320) | Posted by Agemo | Tuesday, April 18, 2006 | Review Permanlink

Debut album released in 1971 "Indian Summer". Hard art rock. Vorcal that shows the shout like Ian Giran with the volume of one's voice is a charm. It is a unique sound. It is a content of art rock influenced overall by a psychedelic rock and R&B. All music is progressive adjacent to jazz-roc ... (read more)

Report this review (#63359) | Posted by braindamage | Friday, January 6, 2006 | Review Permanlink

Indian summer......formed by singer/keyboardplayer: Bob Jackson. Guitarist :Colin Williamson.Drummer:Paul Hooper.Bass:Malcolm Harker. These wonderful UK guys are somthing else. This their one and only album....its a wonderfull example of the time in UK when people were musicminded especially in th ... (read more)

Report this review (#27124) | Posted by Tonny Larz | Friday, March 26, 2004 | Review Permanlink

The album was released in 1971 by the unfortunately short lived RCA prog label, Neon Records. They were discovered by the same manager of Black Sabbath but definitely didn't have the same success. And it's a pity, because almost everything here is pure excellency. Maybe only the solos are sometimes ... (read more)

Report this review (#27126) | Posted by | Sunday, March 14, 2004 | Review Permanlink

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