Toward the Sun/Fluid Druid [Original recording remastered, Import]

Druid | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 12, 1997)
• Number of Discs: 2
• Format: Original recording remastered, Import
• Label: Bgo - Beat Goes on
• ASIN: B0000070E3
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #206,666 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. Voices

2. Remembering

3. Theme

4. Toward the Sun

5. Red Carpet for an Autumn

6. Dawn of Evening

7. Shangri-La

Disc: 2

1. Razor Truth

2. Painters Clouds

3. FM 145

4. Crusade

5. Nothing But Morning

6. Barnaby

7. Kestrel

8. Left to Find

9. The Fisherman's Friend

Editorial Reviews

If You Ever Wondered What A Progressive Band From The 70's That Featured Gary Numan's Drummer And One Of The Men Behind The Teletubbies Records Would Sound Like, Wonder No More. Because That's What This Is!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not bad for Yes-lite, but some of the falsetto vocals can really sting..., May 3, 2006

By 

Squire Jaco (Buffalo, NY USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Toward the Sun/Fluid Druid (Audio CD)

I've gotta be frank here, folks: if I didn't love the bass guitar so much, and if Neil Brewer didn't play it like a Chris Squire copycat, I probably wouldn't listen to Druid much anymore. Too much of the music is uninspired, unoriginal, or not exciting.

Actually, when Dane Stephens sings a bit lower (i.e. in his normal vocal range), he sounds quite a lot like Jon Anderson. Unfortunately, he occasionally causes me to wince when he sings in a screechy falsetto voice, especially on a few songs from the first album. And any harmonies are dubbed by Dane himself, so you don't get the rich harmonic vocals that some other prog groups can produce. His guitar playing is adequate, but not remarkable.

Ditto for the keyboard player, Andrew McCrorie-Shand. Not a lot of soloing prowess is exhibited, though he handles the keys adequately in an early-period Yes Tony Kaye sort of way. I do think the drumming (by Cedric Sharpley) is very good, and the bass playing is (as I've already noted) quite entertaining in places.

The comparisons to Yes can hardly be overlooked. But this is a little more acoustic, and a bit less challenging - almost "nice". Overall the music is not nearly as dynamic or complex as peak Yes, thus my "Yes-lite" tag. Some reviewers seem to view the band as underappreciated or unlucky; I actually think the band is VERY lucky - they seem to have been little more than a good prog cover band that got the chance to record two albums. That's more than many proggers were able to accomplish back in the late 1970's.

Still, there are some very good moments here. I enjoy the first parts of both albums more than the second halves for some reason? "Voices", "Remembering", "Theme", "Razor Truth", "FM 145", and "Crusade" are all pretty enjoyable tunes. The second half of "Fluid Druid" is mostly dreck.

There just wasn't enough original and interesting new stuff here for the Yes lover among us prog fans. Another group to which I see them frequently compared is Starcastle, whose first two albums are CLEARLY head and shoulders above these two albums.

So, this music is good - not great - and certainly enjoyable and listenable in general. But I do find it lacking in originality. For a look at Druid contemporaries that did it RIGHT in the late 70's, check out unique groups like England, Cathedral, Cherry Five - or even the American group Yezda Urfa.

"Nice" music just doesn't fit into the top of my preference list...

I value interesting music that is played and recorded well. This cd's rating was based on:
Music quality = 7.5/10; Performance = 7/10; Production = 8/10; CD length = 9/10.
Overall score weighted on my proprietary scale = 7.6 ("3 stars")

8 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yes And Starcastle Fans Take Note, September 3, 2000

By 

Chris Gerbig (Ontario, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Toward the Sun/Fluid Druid (Audio CD)

I have to disagree with my fellow reviewers on this one! If you are a fan of YES or STARCASTLE, you must give this a try. Guitarist/Singer Dane has a pure, high tenor voice that compares favorably to Jon Anderson. This is very fine, dreamy, mystical symphonic rock. It tends to some harder edged, more streamlined moments on the 2nd CD. But I don't see how you can like YES music and not like this. These albums are way better than anything that YES did after 1976!! The mellotron flights are full of fantasia, and many songs have a pastoral, dream-like quality. I regard DRUID as one of the must maligned and unappreciated symphonic rock groups of the 70's. They are second only to Starcastle in their ability to create complex, melodic Yes-influenced prog rock.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Druid Rules!, June 15, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Toward the Sun/Fluid Druid (Audio CD)

Sorry but I can't bash this band...Fluid Druid is one of the best Prog Rock Albums of the 70's. The track Razor Truth is a sparkling, loopy and bending song that sticks with me to this very day; the people who bash Prog Rock seem to jump on this group. Unfair...try bashing Styx or Star Castle instead. When I first heard their their simple ebulant sound...I knew I would be writing this kindof revue twent-five years later...