Gazpacho - The Night
Posted by: Nick Lees on 12 January 2013
I sometimes think it's a bit naff to highlight a single album like this, and then go on to proclaim (as I'm about to) that I reckon it's a serious contender for a modern classic. It's bound to lead to disappointment isn't it?
Well, possibly. However, since "discovering" this album just over 12 months ago I can't get rid of it from the playllist and it's had *lots* of competition and I reckon more people should at least be aware of it.
I came across it in unpromising circumstances - Planet Mellotron gave one of their earlier albums (I'd never heard of them) such a stinking review it piqued my interest, so I trotted off to Prog Archives to see what was what. Once there, it was clear that The Night was in their highest category of albums reviewed and by lots of people too.
From there, it was a short hop to Youtube where I listened to this (it's the third part of the album):
It's outwardly an unpromising idea - the whole album is basically one long, intricate song based on a single riff and all in the key of G, and a lot of it is sung and not purely instrumental and that puts a lot of pressure a) on the tunes and b) on the interest the singer can muster over 50+ minutes.
But they pull it off. It's not a rocky album that's going to have you playing air guitar and at times it reminds me, atmosphere-wise, of the later Talk Talk albums.
Following that listen I bought the album on import (it's since been remastered and re-issued by Kscope) and really liked it. But that was just the beginning, on every listen more of the subtleties - especially in the instrumentation - became apparent and on every listen I became more and more immersed in the whole thing. A grower par excellence!
One of those albums I feel sad when it ends.
And here is the closer - just to show that a one-riff, one key album isn't necessarily an exercise in sterile repetition:
Since then I've got subsequent albums by them (Tick Tock, March Of Ghosts with Missa Atropos to come) and they're very good but for me just lack the magic that this one has (once it's had time to get under your skin) and that takes it very close to the top of modern prog..