Search - England :: Garden Shed (Mlps)

An amazing one-off album in the style of 70's Genesis and Ye

Squire Jaco | Buffalo, NY USA | 10/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Until a month ago, I'd never even heard of this album from 1977. And after a few listens, I'm just dumbfounded that music of this quality and originality has to go unnoticed by the masses because of timing (the infiltration of punk and disco) or mis-marketing. The only other plausible explanation I can come up with is that the first song - before it fades into a Genesis-like prog gem - starts off with some light and unstructured musical sounds on the keyboards, imitating some atypical instruments (like Chinese strings, trombone, tuba, etc.). If the casual listener got bored 75 seconds into this album, he/she might have missed 47 more minutes of prog bliss!



This is a GREAT album of progressive music in the vein of mid-70's Genesis and Yes. Nice use of mellotron, piano and other keys throughout, interesting drumming a la Bruford, and a melodic bass that doesn't get lost in the mix. Great vocals and harmonies, occasionally sung falsetto, growled or whispered for dramatic effect. The lyrics are more in the Genesis vein of story-telling, sometimes humorous in a tongue-in-cheek manner. A couple of the vocalists remind me of Triumvirat's Helmut Kollen and Genesis' Tony Banks (that's right, Tony Banks!) from his solo albums. But I also hear passing similarities to Supertramp's Roger Hodgson and Yes' bass player Chris Squire, which I'm sure adds to the Yes-like harmony vocals heard occasionally.



This particular issue of the CD comes in a thin miniature album sleeve replica of the original album (perhaps a quarter inch higher than a normal CD jewel case). An insert includes all of the lyrics and other info in both English and Japanese or Korean or something. (Personally, it was difficult for me to follow along with the lyrics in Japanese!;-) This issue also includes a 4-minute bonus track called Nanagram (that's the way it's spelled on the insert), which is all instrumental, and a nice way to round out the CD with over 52 minutes of music. (Nanagram/Nanogram comes from another rare, short album of their recorded material called "The Last of the Jubblies".)



Despite the references to the prog masters, this group has a very unique sound of its own, and they take an original path with their lyrics and varied lead vocals. As an example, "Three Piece Suite" (with it's Yessy "A Venture" vibe in the first section) features three different lead vocalists in its three different sections. Overall, a very good and complete album, and even slightly better than two other one-off prog essentials that I love from the same era - Cherry Five and Cathedral's "Stained Glass Stories". (Dare I also mention Neuschwanstein and Yezda Urfa?) Obscure but excellent!



Believe me, I've got more music than I have time to fully listen to, and you probably do too. But this is the type of CD for which we yearn and endlessly search; and when you find it, you just have to add it to your CD library.



Find it. Buy it. Listen... and thank me later.



I value interesting music that is played and recorded well. This cd's rating was based on:

Music quality = 9.1/10; Performance = 9/10; Production = 8.5/10; CD length = 8/10.

Overall score weighted on my proprietary scale = 8.9 ("4-1/2 stars")"

Obscure and undeservedly so

Jeffrey J.Park | Massachusetts, USA | 01/07/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Released in 1977 on the Arista Label, this well-recorded one shot by English prog rockers England is simply superb. Loaded with virtuosic playing by all members, great vocals, organ and analog synthesizers (including tons of mellotron), excellent melodies, and metric/harmonic complexity, this recording is sure to please a lot of prog fans. The six pieces on the CD range in length from the 1'51 acoustic piano piece "All Alone", to the 16'18 near-epic symphonic extravaganza "Poisoned Youth". Although the Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Prog Rock description of this recording cited Supertramp influences in addition to those characteristic of Genesis and Gentle Giant (vocal harmonies only), apart from the occasional heavy guitar riff, the arena rock influences are pretty much invisible. If anything, Genesis influences circa 1976-1977 dominate. This CD re-issue was released on the Korean label Si-Wan records with liner notes in Korean. For those of you that cannot get enough of this fantastic band, a compilation of studio outtakes and other odd bits and pieces was released sometime during the 1990's as "The Last of the Jubblies"."

Last of the great British prog albums

BENJAMIN MILER | Veneta, Oregon | 09/28/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Prog rock, especially in Great Britain became increasingly difficult business in the second half of the '70s. The established acts were still able to sell records (like Yes' Going For the One or Jethro Tull's Songs From the Wood), but new acts found it increasingly difficult to get signed on a label (even Virgin Records started turning to punk at this point). There was only the occasional act like The Enid who managed a debut at that time and still continued on well in to the 1980s. England had the misfortune of releasing their one and only album, Garden Shed in 1977 (although in the 1990s, an album of leftover material surfaced called Last of the Jubblies). Since they were a prog band, they found what they did suddenly went out of fashion thanks to the rise of punk, so Garden Shed sank without much notice despite being released on Arista Records (a label that gave us stuff like The Alan Parsons Project, Caravan, and Happy the Man, to truly dreadful acts like the Bay City Rollers, Barry Manilow, and Air Supply). So this album has since became one of the more difficult titles to get on that label. For those not living in the UK (me included), it's interesting to note the cover to Garden Shed is a spoof of a label to a jar of Robertson's Golden Shred Marmalade (which is apparently not available outside of the UK, I sure hadn't seen any sold in my local supermarket). England consisted of bassist Martin Henderson, guitarist Franc Holland, keyboardist Robert Webb, and drummer Jode Leigh, all credited to vocal duties. Robert Webb used Hammond organ, Mellotron, Mini Moog, piano, and clavinet. It might be interesting to note this album used the older Mark II model Mellotron (which was pretty much out of use after Genesis gave us their 1973 Live album, in place of the smaller 400 model, although the 400 was introduced in 1970). The Mellotron is used on all, but one cut, so fans of the instrument would need to have Garden Shed in their collection. Robert Webb sawed his Mark II in half to make it more portable. Musically, the influences of Garden Shed are rather obvious: Yes, Genesis, Gentle Giant, Supertramp, even King Crimson. The Genesis influences seem most obvious on the wonderful opening "Midnight Madness". "All Alone" is a short piano-oriented ballad, often compared with Queen, to me reminds me more of Supertramp. "Three Piece Suite" (get it?), is a perfect description, because it is a movement divided in to three parts, the first part resembling most of Yes, especially the same kind of vocal harmonies. "Paraffinalea" has a bit more of a Gentle Giant-influence without totally sounding like them, but there is still that strong Yes feel to it. "Yellow" is mainly an acoustic ballad with Mellotron. The album closes with the 16 minute "Poisoned Youth". Once again, the Yes and Genesis influences are plain to see for everyone. It's also interesting to note that Jode Leigh's drumming is very much in the same style of Bill Bruford. Another highly recommended album for all prog rock fans."