WARM DUST

However, the rating on this is more reflective of the content than at least "Peace," whose average from a smaller number of scores have been easily skewed higher than this effort, higher than they ought, perhaps.

If you're a poet, perhaps "peace in our time" will appeal to you more than "And it came to pass" but as a musician, as a rocker and a bloke who enjoys subtle humour and elements of irony this reviewer finds this album the most palatable of the two.

It reaches greater heights of auditory excitement, with elements that bring to mind the flavours of Tull's "Thick as a brick", Thijs Van Leer's "Focus III" and the era that brought us the recording of "Jesus Christ Superstar" with its fusion of classical, jazz and rock.

The album is not, however, without its flaws. Chief among these is the inclusion of spoken word statements between the songs in which the band members outline all sorts of injustices, poor decisions, and occasional outright malevolence on the part of the political establishment. Regardless of whether or not you are inclined to agree with the band's sentiments, the fact is that the presentation of them is incredibly preachy and self-important, to the point where they become positively irritating as the album progresses. Still, the disc is enough of a step up from the band's debut to earn an extra star. But only one extra star.

Developing a psychedelic brass rock that will enthral most progheads that are not always at ease with Electric Flag or BS&T's soul & RnB adventures, WD keeps a very prog (almost proto-prog at times) providing cool pastoral hippy atmospheres that many woodwind instruments will enhance. The 11-mins Turbulance is the perfect introduction to their world with plenty of interplay between all the musos, but never getting too complex. The following 7-min+ Achromasia is a brassier thing with saxes all over the place. On the flipside of the first disc starts the mega emotive Circus with full dramatics for its 5-min+ duration, and finishes on the 10-mins+ title track, a narrative piece that goes into chaotic free jazz middle section. Both tracks are sandwiching a blues- rock track Keep On Trucking, which holds lesser interest no matter how well executed.

The second disc soothes your ears with a gentle flute, soon to become bedevilled leading into the organ-driven almost-8 mins Loosing Touch, which can drag on at half-speed like Vanilla Fudge did, but never fails to deliver on emotions. The second blues (the one For Pete that last over 7 minutes) of the album is much more impressive, because of Walker's dramatic tone, pulled by devilish sax lines underlining the complete madness of the track. A more upbeat Man Without A Straw (very funk and brassy) and a Richie Havens cover Indian Rope Man (just as funky and brassy) are giving a more Motown feel to this otherwise very progressive album. But let's face it, early 70's Motown (from J Brown to sly stone and George Clinton) has most progheads agreeing with their musical preferences, and it is certainly the case with this writer. The much proggier 14-mins Wash My Eyes has a full spectrum of ambiances and is a constantly evolving tune that reaches complete and utter madness around the 6-minute mark before returning to the organ-ic world it had left behind for a short while and a lengthy calm flute leads the band into orgasm-ic apocalypse.

Exactly how Warm Dust is so unknown to the public is a bit of a mystery, but eventually, one might see that the small Trend label might have lacked the power to push the band through. Nevertheless, WD's IACTP is a small-unearthed gem that later albums will match in terms of preciousness, all three waiting for a wider acceptance from a demanding proghead. In either case, all three albums have received a semi-legit reissue under the Red Fox label, but this writer cannot wait for fully legit releases that would include a rare '70 single as bonus tracks. Very much worth the frequent spins you'll give it in the next months following acquisition and the still numerous spins during the rest of your life. A really shamefully forgotten band along with Brainchild (one album) and Galliard (two albums).

Third and last album from this sextet that can be included in the fairly closed category of brass rock. With only a change of drummer (Bedson coming in for Bailey), this album is the logical continuity of the two previous albums, entertaining us with a brass-heavy proto-prog rock that is often uneven, but can reach awesome height of brilliance. Coming with an rather amazing but naïve gatefold artwork depicting an orca whale having swallowed the band on their raft, along with a couple of sexy mermaids.

The first side is filled with short tracks (bar one) that have more to do with pure brass rock ala Blood Sweat & Tears than with prog, even if Long Road is one of those pleasers that even the harder-lined progheads would have a hard time resisting. The lengthier Hole In The Future has a long Indian-laced mid-section where Surguy's flute hold the centre stage before a fairly flawed Moog solo from Carrack destroys the previous effort and the track suddenly and abruptly (no warning) reverting to its original pattern. Gone are the superbly subtle chord changes of Rejection in their previous album, so much that this track has a "botch job" written all over it.

Obviously on the flipside, everyone is waiting for the 18-min+ Blind Boy suite to save the album, but one has to be patient and suffer a rather tedious (but thankfully short) rendition of Sibelius' Bare Mountain. However the Blind Boy suite does come in to save the album from sinking to depths of no-return, as it is easily the album's highlight and is often as inspired as the previous album was. The opening movement called trouble In The Mill sounds like a superb Oblivion Express track meeting Chicago Transit Authority for a full speed crash on rails. The following Clogs And Shawls is a quiet starter where Surguy's enchanted flute is leading through a slow crescendo with all the finesse you hoped they would developed on the first side of the album and finally climaxing with Walker's delicious gutsy vocals in the following self-titled movement. Superb stuff. But with such climax, the fall could only have been a shattering one, and the band takes a few minutes to collect the scattered parts and start reassembling them to rebuild an awesome groove called Slibe, where Soloman's sax might be reminiscent of Traffic's Chris Wood. Spine chills and goose bumps assured. The closing Dustbust is just a short recall of the original riff

With only the 5-part Blind Boy suite to save the album from drowning, that very same track being worth the ticket price alone, Warm Dust's last album is a very uneven affair, not matching the constancy and consistence of Peace For Our Time, but the album's centrepiece is definitely the group's best achievement without the slightest hint of a shadow of a beginning of a doubt. Hard not to give it at least equal rating than its predecessor.

Second album from this English brass rock band, that was a bit the answer to Chicago Transit authority mixed with some Caravan and some Dutch/Holland Solution. Actually it is interesting to note that England had The Greatest Show On Earth, If and Warm Dust (and to a lesser extent Colosseum) to answer to American's giants of brass rock (which automatically induced a jazz feel without being the typical jazz-rock): Blood Sweat & Tears, Chicago, Electric Flag and The Flock. None of course would match the New World's candidates for commercial success, but artistically the balance tips a whole lot more evenly. Lead by singer Les "Dansfield" Walker, the sextet had a double sax attack, even if both handled other duties (namely second keyboard and guitar), but as far as the proghead is concerned only first KB man Paul Carrack would face further success (first in new wave group squeeze, than later as a collab in later Steve Hackett albums), but their three albums are definitely worth a listen.

This second album is a conceptual story based on the successive recent wars, punctuated by extracts of a Chamberlain speech spoken in 1938, then extrapolated to speak of further conflicts. Graced with an explicit war-like gatefold artwork (and some unsettling inner-fold war horrors-related pictures as well), the project was not only ambitious, it was idealist (a product of its time) and by today's standards might seem a little too pretentious for its own good. If I spoke above of brass rock, it is mostly in the regard that there are indeed many "brass" instruments - even if saxes and flutes are woodwind instruments because of the reed, but I never heard of Reed Rock (Reed Lover however..;-) - it is partly because of the songwriting (allowing for much space for wind instrument arrangements) that provides the typical sound that early Chicago or If expanded so well upon.

Starting on the superb and dramatic Blood Of Our Fathers, without wild and spine- chilling throat-splitting winds and a superb vocal line, PFOT is heading towards a small- undiscovered prog gem status, almost right away. The following Wind Of Change is less enthralling, but although of more ordinary standards, by all means not any less progressive in its songwriting. The third track, Justify, is a lengthy organ-driven blues- rock interrupted by a slow starting gloomy mid-section (which incorporates the then- obligatory drum solo), then returning to the previous blues-rock.

The flipside is composed of five shorter tracks, which build up on their usual formula. Rejection is delicate slow builder where Carrack's Rhodes and Hammond are taking the lion's share of the work with Surguy's flute (I'm guessing it's him, here) floating lightly above, but ensues a bunch of well written chord changes and brilliant playing are making this track one of the highlights of the album. The following tracks are all plenty of excellent prog twists and tricks that should please almost every progheads including the most demanding ones, such as yours truly. However the last two tracks Wrote A Letter and Peace Of Mind fail to enthral me as much as the early part of the album did. Both are very standard conservative almost soul-ish songs where way too few things are happening to raise our enthusiasm or even maintain it at a good level.

While hardly revolutionary or even groundbreaking Warm dust's second album is a rather unearthed rough gem, that has its flaws (mostly the concept narrations), but its value is no less appreciable. I will round up this album's rating to the upper unit, thus giving it an essential label that must be taken carefully, as one must be sure that he will enjoy the early UK proto-prog (in the non-PA sense of the word) peppered with much horns and take it in regards with the rest of the group's discography.

In my view, WD - ( did they come from Burnley?) - more than held their own amongst their illustrious counterparts and I wholly agree that they fully deserve a place in the prog rock archives. "And it came to pass" is a genuine curate's egg of an album - and the glaring misspelling of the words "turbulence" and "losing" in the titles of two of the tracks is distinctly amateurish - but it was most definitely "progressive". I, for one, have not heard anything quite like the title track before or since (although the format is not dissimilar to "A day in the life" off Sgt Pepper), and I still regularly play it on my car cassette thirty five years after its release. To me, that speaks volumes. There are a couple of blues-based numbers that I never really liked, but "Turbulence" and "Achromasia" are wonderful vehicles for some genuinely soulful sax playing by John Surgey and Alan Soloman, working perfectly in harmony, and Dave Pepper and Terry Comer both play in a beautifully understated way throughout. (I seem to recall that Dave was involved in a serious car accident shortly after the LP was released, which may explain his absence from the subsequent LP's - apologies if I have got this wrong.) Paul Carrack, of course, needs no further introduction, but, here, he plays organ in a masterly and swirlingly evocative way. Which brings us to Dransfield Walker. Hell's bells, what a powerful voice this man had!! A bit too heavy and strident at times, maybe, but he certainly gets the band's overriding anti-war message across in a distinctly unforgettable way. "Wash my eyes", is to my mind, the stand out track - coming in at over 14 minutes it gives each band member the chance to show their paces around a compellingly haunting and recurring jazz/rock theme, and it's simply stunning.

Of the band's subsequent releases, there is, sadly (and with one very notable exception), little to say. They don't add anything to the diversity of tracks on the debut release and I would advise you not to search out either. However, the notable exception is the Blind Boy suite off the eponymous third LP. Coming in at 18 minutes, this is one of the greatest prog tracks ever produced - a diverse amalgam of styles and rhythms, fantastic woodwind segments underpinned by urgent, restless, swelling bass/organ/drums. Plus Mr Walker's vocal gymnastics. Not a lead guitar within 50 miles - and not in the least bit missed, either. An altogether wondrous track that knocked the spots of everything else on the LP, indeed, everything else they ever recorded . The recommendation is to get hold of this track, tape it straight after "And it came to pass", get in the car and head east on the M62. The journey from Lancashire to Leeds will simply fly by. With any luck, you might not even notice Halifax. That's testimony enough to just how good these two tracks are in tandem.

As regards a score for the debut LP, not everyone's cup of tea, by any means, and somewhat inconsistent, but a very well-merited three stars (bordering on four) for genuine originality and technical accomplishment. And some excellent tunes, too. Thank you, Warm Dust, for the memories.