MAMMOTH SPECIAL

Decameron opened their supporting tour of this album with a concert backed by an orchestra, which is kind of hard to imagine if one only listens to the first side of the record. Their sophomore effort is clearly aimed at a more commercial sound; thankfully by the time they got around to the backside of the album the group seem to have settled back into a more grooving and comfortable folk-rock sound.

Other than the bland commercial rock opener and an awkward cover of Stephen Stills' "Rock and Roll Woman", the record's a-side includes a very Strawbs-sounding "Just Enough like Home"; the funky "A Glimpse of Me" that features Geoff March with some decent saxophone; balladry in the form of "Late on Lady Day", also including saxophone along with somber piano that seems somewhat inspired by the more languid Roger Hodgson-penned Supertramp tracks; and a catchy "Breakdown of the Song" that tells the tale of a journeyman singer-songwriter whose financial gains seem to get mostly divvied up between everyone except the artist himself. In all a modest side of music, with only "Late on Lady Day" approaching the folkish charm of the band's first record.

Fortunately things get better on the back half, starting with another funky tune (thanks to Dik Cadbury's tasty bass). "The Cheetah" offers the first real glimpse of the band's multi- instrumental talents with flute, that tight bass, a bit of mandolin and plenty of percussion. A bit of a departure from the band's early sound but a welcome bit of musical exploration at least.

"Jan" sounds a bit like old London music hall, jaunty and piano-driven with well-formed vocal harmonies and a couple of playful tempo shifts as if meant to be delivered like a penny theater production.

The band tries for something a bit more profound with the somber "Stone House", scored to choral backing vocals, strings and once again more prominent bass than was heard anywhere on their first record. "Parade" centers itself around strings as well, and manages to be even more languidly delivered than "Stone House". Love the cello on this one.

The album closes with an almost nostalgic "The Empty Space (This Side of Innocence)", once again with gentle strings and soft backing vocals which build to a sort of slow climax before winding down in a wash of poignant string flourishes. Meant to be a bit sad, it's a gentle and somewhat depressing way to end the album but certainly well in character for folk rock music of the period. This one veers well into Barclay James Harvest territory, and was I suppose sincerely meant to be emotive and serious at the time.

I didn't get past the opening side of this record the first several times I sat down to play it, and even though the band acquits themselves for the most part on the final five songs I still have to say this is not up to the par of their debut album, nor of the one that would follow. I'm going to say this is a three out of five start effort anyway, just because the songs that do deliver are certainly good enough for that, and the ones that don't rise just enough above filler to merit more than a 'collectors-only' stamp. If you're not familiar with the band I wouldn't start with this one though. Pick up their debut and then work your way backwards from their final release to this one. Hopefully their better work will soften your overall opinion of this one.

peace