Customer Reviews

Audience

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4 star:		(0)
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1969 was a great year, a damn year to rock music...All that stuff of tragic Altamont concert and the ending of the idealistic flower-power movement, bla-bla-bla...Well, all this turned music a lot heavier, harder, cynic and complex, resulting in the advent of progressive-fusion scene, the synthesis of all underground music of the era... Audience, a british combo with a fantastic singer and a prime-division musicians made in that year a truly classic, now so underrated!! Why ignoring, for instance, one of the most beautiful saxophone-in-rock like the one in the first cut of the album, "Banquet" or the tenderness of "Poet" and "Pleasant Convalescence" (this one distinctively crafted), the exciting rolling-drums of "Man on Box", the bittersweet soul of "Leave It Unsaid" or the nervous raw-power of "Heaven Was An Island"? This album had been a rarity in cd, but now Luminous Records reissued it with 3 bonus-tracks, especially interesting is "Paper Round". It was a pitty that these guys never had the relevance they deserve!!!

1969 was really the year that the UK album market came of age. It was finally possible to get an album issued without having a hit single, although those albums without a hit usually undersold.

This is Audience's first LP. It was issued on UK Polydor and not issued in the US. I ran across a copy of the UK import in 1970 in San Francisco and being a UK music fan, I was also taken by the totally cool black porus paper cover and bought it...without ever hearing of the band.

The entire is really terrific; Howard Werth great vocal and accoustic guitar; Keith Gemmell's sax (and all other sorts of reeds....some put through a wah-wah petal and sounding like an electric guitar!), Trevor Williams' great bass and Tony Connor's capable drumming.

I own the first CD issue of this...on UK RPM (RPM 148) and this issue is the replacement for the out-of-print RPM issue. Same 15 tracks. The only thing that was annoying about the RPM issue is that it began with a fade-up audience applause, which was NOT on the original LP, and "Banquet", the first song was transfered in such a way that it's a bit distorted...something the vinyl was not.

I assume that this issue is exactly the same as the RPM, even tho I have not heard it.

Anyone who likes the UK tuneful Art Rock/Progressive/Album-oriented types of groups will love this.

I wasn't familiar with this album until recently, though I've been familiar with Audience's other albums since they came out in the early 70's. It's a lot like their other work except the songs are shorter and there's a bunch of them crammed in here. Obviously the band took the approach of expanding on their songs after this album. Nonetheless for anyone who may be familiar with Audience's other albums, this one offers up a very enjoyable listen.