This album rocks more than progresses.
Robert Cossaboon | The happy land of Walworth, NY | 05/07/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I imagine this band to be a footnote in the great encyclopedia of progressive rock. There's nothing else available by them. If you are expecting Emerson Lake and Palmer style keyboards and drums, you'd better reach for something else. The music is more derivative of Uriah Heap than Yes. While the playing is pretty tight and often hard/psychedelic rocking, the vocals are some of the weakest and most annoying you will ever hear. There are two long songs, "I'm on My Way" and "Birth, Life and Death", but these are more like long jams than progressive suites. Of these two, the former is by far the superior. 'Birth' reaches for too many concepts and ends up embracing none of them definitively. Some more adept afficionados of this genre would embrace a trait like this as a strong point. Hang with the opener, "I'm on My Way". As opening tracks go, it makes a fine first impression. "It Takes a Woman" is the best hardest rocking of the shorter songs. Strangely enough, the bonus tracks seem to be more focused than the album tracks. "Sing My Song" actually has a decent catchy vocal and a nice guitar solo. "Riding Alone" recalls some of the druggier moments of early Quicksilver Messenger Service. Overall Arcadium isn't a bad album. It just isn't outstanding and doesn't represent anything you haven't already heard better played from some other band. Perhaps if they had had more time on their side and had invested in a better lead vocalist, the story might have turned out differently."
Amazing obscure gem of psych/prog
BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 02/13/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Arcadium was a little known British band that performed at the Middle Earth Club in London back in the late '60s (other artists that performed there were Wooden O, Writing on the Wall, and Tam White). Their one and only album, Breathe Awhile was released on the obscure Middle Earth label, named after the nightclub. Remember, this was 1969, prog rock was going through its growing pains, so many bands still stuck to their psychedelic roots, and of course, Arcadium was no exception. The album opens up with the amazing "I'm On My Way", it starts off slowly, then they start getting in to some great jams. Allan Ellwood gives us some nice organ work, and Robert Ellwood (presumably a brother) gives us some nice psychedelic guitar work. The rest of the band consisted of bassist Graham Best, drummer John Albert Parker, and 12-string guitarist Miguel Sergides (all credited to vocal duties, aside from the drummer). "Poor Lady", a much shorter piece, also blew me away. And then you have "Walk on the Bad Side", which actually starts off rather discouraging in that cheesy psychedelic pop manner, then the music kepts getting better and better as it progresses, with some really intense passages. "Woman of a Thousand Years" is not to be confused with the Fleetwood Mac song of the same name (this pre-dates Future Games by two years, by the way), it's a completely different song. There's almost a Van der Graaf Generator-like feel to this song, especially in the organ work. "Birth, Life & Death" is the other lengthy epic with more mindblowing passages. Admittedly the vocals aren't the strong point of this album, although I've heard a lot worst. The CD reissue also includes two bonus cuts, "Sing My Song" and "Riding Alone", both from a single the band released around the same time of Breathe Awhile. "Riding Alone" is the standout cut, in my book. Regardless, I find this a great and solid album, and I highly recommend this album to those in to the early prog/psych scene."
Track Listings (9) - Disc #1
