ROUND HOUSE

Three of the original five members got back together at the turn of the century and the result is a revisiting of their previously available recordings. I presume that this was recorded basically 'live' in the studio as there is hardly any audience sound (although the band are introduced at one point), and the overall sound quality is much better than on the other two albums. Given that the two new boys are the keyboard player and one of the guitarists they have fitted in extremely well and the result is an album that certainly stands up against the first two and as the sound quality is more consistent is the one that I would plump for.

Originally appeared in Feedback #71, Dec 02

I think that 'Wings To Rest' was released after the band had already broken up. This was a collection of previously unavailable material that had been recorded in 1978 and 1979, and show the band in a much more jazz fusion vein. The twin guitars are still very much to the fore and any fan of good guitar will love the opener "A Red Rose And Whisper Of A Devil". Unfortunately the sound inconsistencies that bedevil the first album also come back here somewhat so that at times the impression is of listening to a second generation tape instead of a CD taken from the masters. But, what can't be hidden is that these are fine musicians with a strong understanding of each other and the impression again is that they have been recorded 'live'.

Originally appeared in Feedback #71, Dec 02

I enjoy listening to bands that no-one else has ever heard of, and I particularly like hearing bands from overseas. So I was very pleased to be sent these discs by Hiroshi in Japan, but unfortunately I have been able to find out very little about them on the web, and the sleeve notes to the CDs are of course in Japanese. Oh well, better just listen to the music then. Round House are a five piece instrumental progressive rock band, with roots firmly in Camel although they do use the twin guitar interplay to fine effect and even manage to come across as Wishbone Ash at times. The debut album (which I think translates to 'The Facsimile Edition') was originally released at the end of 1978, with the first three tracks recorded in a studio and the other two recorded 'live' (for this reissue there is one more track from the same period). The sound quality does very somewhat, and isn't as good as it could be at times (the bass is particularly low in the mix throughout), but when they are blasting out as on "Tour Of The Deep Ocean" then this is very fine indeed. The mix between prog, jazz, and more straight ahead guitar interplay shows that this band could cut it inside either genre, and if all of the songs had the recording quality of the first three then this would be extremely highly recommended. As it is, this is still an album well worth hearing.

Originally appeared in Feedback #71, Dec 02