IF / IF 2

If - If 2 (1970) (@320)

(Review from progarchives.com)

If’s second album perfectly complements the first, released the same year and includes the same high standard of playing.

Opening up on the soulful Your City Is Falling, the track’s best moments are the excellents drum breaks around the end of the track. The following Sunday Sad starts on a pastoral electric Spanish-sounding guitar mixed with a quiet flute, soon joined by Hodgkinson’s soulful vocals, but Smith’s psych guitar solo takes the show, excellently underlined by the pulsing and flamencoing bass of Richardson. Lonesome Nymphomaniac (a rare Mealing composition) is not my fave on this album, partly because it’s a bit messy in the recording, most notably the very shallow space allotted for most of the instruments in the stereo space.

The flipside starts on the lengthy Motown-like track, but soon digresses into a series of excellent solos, including an epic guitar solo. Fellow British jazzer writes the next Shadows And Echoes, where after a full-fledged jazz tour of the group, the guitar gets very jazzy this time around. The closing Song For Elsa is much more of a Colosseum track than most of the rest of the album, with the two saxes again pulling a Heckstallian trick every now and then.

Line-up :

* Dennis Elliott - Drums

* J.W. Hodgkinson - Vocals

* John Mealing - Keyboards, Vocals

* Dick Morrissey - Saxophones, Flute

* Dave Quincy - Saxophones

* Jim Richardson - Bass

* Terry Smith - Guitar

Track List :

01. Your City Is Falling - 5:04

02. Sunday Sad - 8:22

03. Tarmac T. Pirate And The Lonesome Nymphoniac - 4:32

04. I Couldn't Write And Tell You - 8:19

05. Shadows And Echoes - 4:25

06. A Song For Elsa, Three Days Before Her 25th Birthday - 5:45

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IF / IF

If - If 1 (1970) (@256)

(Review from wikipedia, progarchives.com)

If were difficult to classify with any of their contemporaries; they seemed out of place wherever they played, and were considered too jazzy when billed with groups with a more rock orientation and too bluesy or loud when billed with more jazz-oriented bands. Their music is based around wind players Dave Quincy and Dick Morrissey, the main songwriters.

On their debut album, starting out on the absolutely delightful Reaching Out On All Sides, the group shows a real knack for writing inventive jazzy tunes that have a rock edge, while making it interesting for demanding music fans. All Sides comes with a good searing guitar solo, underlined by Mealing’s organ, then the saxes come in a very Heckstallian fashion. Hodgkinson’s voice is fairly close to Chicago’s singer. The lengthy instrumental About The Box is probably the A-side’s highlight, with Morrissey’s flute drawing a long solo before the two saxes cut away in a Heckstall manner, allowing for Smith’s guitar to wallow much like Clempson’s did. This second track is probably the most Colosseum-like of the album. Rounding off the first side is the 7-mins What Can A Friend Say, which boasts a very brassy rhythm’n blues, in this case reminiscent of Chicago or The Flock, but boasting yet another stellar electric guitar.

The flipside is made of four shorter tracks, with the rapid 100 mph soul number “Woman, Can You See?” track, where the repeating sax riffs and chorus and a sizzling solo of the same instrument. Conscious Mind did not steal its name, as it is easily the easiest track on the album, this being the attempt at mass exposure via the single. Best forgotten if you ask me. Dockland is a strange and slow (almost doomy) track, which seem to emphasize dark atmospheres, but Smith’s guitar is again the main solo instrument, again a bit reminiscent of Hiseman’s tribe. The closing Promised Land is an upbeat funky track that contains plenty of intricate arrangements, but cannot escape a pop feel, but positively said.

If's first album is an absolute must for those wanting to find the perfect link between brass-rock (since If did not have brass instrument proper, but woodwind instruments) and jazz-rock.

Line-up :

* Dennis Elliott - Drums

* J.W. Hodgkinson - Vocals

* John Mealing - Keyboards, Vocals

* Dick Morrissey - Saxophones, Flute

* Dave Quincy - Saxophones

* Jim Richardson - Bass

* Terry Smith - Guitar

Track List :

01. I'm Reaching Out On All Sides - 5:44

02. What Did I Say About That Box, Jack? - 8:22

03. What Can A Friend Say? - 6:56

04. Woman Can You See (What This Big Thing Is All About) - 4:12

05. Raise The Level Of The Conscious Mind - 3:16

06. Dockland - 4:45

07. The Promised Land - 3:44

http://www.fileserve.com/file/UNjSaNg