Galliard - Strange Pleasure / New Dawn (Reissue) (1969-70/2005)

On the British rock scene of the late sixties, the Galliard mini-orchestra quickly took up its own niche. Skillfully combining powerful brass-rock with elements of jazz, folk and psychedelia, the guys groped their unique sound, with which they were extremely adroit in the progressive party of that time. The soul of the team was a multi-instrumentalist and composer Jeff Brown (guitars, keyboards, lead vocals, arrangements of wind sections), skillfully controlling all the subtleties of the performing process. Thanks to his sensitive leadership, actively acting "alive" Galliard were known as perfectionists. In other words, the reputation of the group among professional musicians was maintained at the highest level. By the beginning of 1969, the original art-rockers undertook to patronize the successful producer Phil Wainman, from the filing of which the British were among the customers of the label Deram Nova. It was on both that the band came out - in many respects the experimental debut of "Strange Pleasure" (1969) and the brilliant new LP "New Dawn" (1970), which demonstrated the refined style of author's creations of Brown.
The bravura "New Dawn Breaking" is first and foremost an entertaining fusion rhythm, multiplied by the complex sound of the winds - saxophones, flutes, pipes, trombone, flugelhorn. A characteristic detail: by erecting the strongest wall of sound, Galliard does not copy the palette of American ensembles of a similar plan, preferring to move in poorly studied sub-genre trails. And I must say, they are very good at it. In "Ask for Nothing", freshly baked British geniuses give due oriental themes: guitarist Richard Ponell with a sitar fills the space with microchromatic frets, Tom Thomas's congas and percussion Woods Podreets give melodies weight and solidity, and Indian flute Dave Coswella frames the main motif with light silk lace. The play "Winter-Spring-Summer", whose spectrum ranges from melodic folklore pastors to extensive polyphonic maneuvers and avant-jazz psychedelasms, is truly magnificent. With humor and unrelenting drive, a vivid sketch of "Open Up Your Mind", composed by Jeff in collaboration with pianist John Morton, was implemented. The structural features of this thing is close to the works of the Canterbury School (Hatfield and the North, Caravan), adjusted for an energetic brass component. After such a pushy, superpositive opus, it's nice to feel like Andy Abbott's accordion and the wonderful choral parts with an Irish touch in the soul-searching sketch "And Smile Again". Continuing to surprise with the compositional variety, Galliard is hooliganly launched into the listener by the jazz-rock boomerang "Somethings Going On", striking the goal with the skill of born snipers. Then follows the instrumental number "Premonition", also not alien to the elements of the bebop, but tact and rationality will prevail in him over irrepressible excitement. In the final outline of "In Your Minds Eye", Brown and his comrades mask the basic major mood with astral-atonal freaks, thus claiming to be the avant-garde; and in general, such an application seems quite justified ...