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Titus Groan (1970)Genres: proto prog |
This is proto-prog with a sometimes heavy blues-rock foundation but with a line-up consisting of John Lee (bass), Jim Toomey (percussion), Stuart Cowell (keyboards and guitars) and Tony Priestland (saxes, flute, oboe etc.) the sound was in fact more like a pot of all music styles coming together. This, and the fact that the band wasn’t really an R&B band, gave the music numerous dimensions. “I Can’t Change” is a more folksy piece mixed with some typically early seventies rock sounds. “It’s All Up With Us” features some sax, acoustic guitar and el-piano and sounds like something East of Eden or maybe Spirit could have come up with. Unfortunate the sax is a little corny and the song itself isn’t that interesting either. “Fuschia” is a heavy rocker with much flute and some fine vocal harmonies. Of the five songs on the original LP the epic “Hall of Bright Carvings” is the most interesting, with its strange oboe and other woodwind sounds and a really strong theme, which starts and finishes the song. The percussion work on this twelve-minute song is also of high class, just like the guitar and bass work. Titus Groan took their name from Mervyn Peake’s writings but they didn’t stop there; some songs are obvious in their references, as “Fuschia” and “Hall of Bright Carvings”. And in the latter one they even succeed in capturing some of the gothic threads from Peake's Gormenghast trilogy. Though many people will perhaps find this album much too primitive and uneven it’s nevertheless a sometimes very interesting album with some really good ideas and some strong music. It’s true that it is a little uneven but otherwise I can recommend it for those of you who like that proto-prog feeling when nobody really knew what kind of music they played, they just mixed all things imaginable and played.
