After their first eponymous album’s release, the band were back in the studio 3 months later to record this album, minus Thomas Crimble (who left to join Hawkwind) replaced by Nick Graham (ex Atomic Rooster bass/flute and vocals). This personnel change led to a far more jazzy/bluesy product. The prog sound is still very much evident, but with sax, flute and trumpet replacing Hammond organ and Mellotron as the driving sounds. ‘Big brother is watching you’ is a great start with haunting harmonica behind the throbbing bass line and Stephen Stillsesque vocals leaving a lovely jazz and blues flavour combination. Nick Graham’s flute takes centre stage on ‘Take me to your leader’s daughter’ and is superb before a fab piece of jazz piano followed by the funky sax, all the while the rhythm section are doing a sterling job. ‘Walking in the park’ is another change (written by the great Graham Bond) with a more bluesey rock sound with some great reed sounds and really great vocals by Nick Graham. ‘The Queen of bad intentions’ is another slightly different genre, more akin to their debut album prog rock sound and there’s more than a hint of Jethro Tull on this cracking track, which includes some fantastic arabesque trumpet. ‘Sweaty Betty’ moves up a gear and is a great jazz influenced rocker of a number with awesome sax and organ finishing with a classic prog drum solo. ‘Easy to lie’ again is a blues and jazz dominated track with great organ and sax solos. All told, this a classic album of the period, even though it was not really a commercial success. Its fusion of jazz, blues and prog make this an unusual album that really grows on you. I absolutely love it and recommend it highly.
