Goblin's classic first album. The album is composed of 6 extended tracks, structured in suite format. A cornerstone of Goblin's past which is a must for all their fans.
Goblin's classic first album. The album is composed of 6 extended tracks, structured in suite format. A cornerstone of Goblin's past which is a must for all their fans.
CD Reviews
A guilty pleasure
Jeffrey J.Park | Massachusetts, USA | 04/12/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is absolutely brilliant, albeit embarrassingly derivative Italian progressive rock that can be profitably compared with Yes circa 1969. More specifically, imagine if Yes never progressed beyond their 1969 debut, yet managed to chug forward into the year 1975 with a keyboard player of Keith Emerson (of ELP) quality armed with a huge arsenal of analog synthesizers, playing suite-length versions of "Survival" (Yes), infused with Tarkus-period (ELP) sensibilities and you will have a good idea of what is going on here. There is a bit a guilty pleasure in all of this though. The bass player, although shamelessly plagiarizing Chris Squire throughout (I think parts of "Then" show up in "The Swan is a Murderer PART II"), ABSOLUTELY RIPS! The fact that he uses a trebly Rickenbacker 4001 bass certainly does not hurt either. The vocals (in English) are also excellent and Cherry Five is evidently fond of four-part vocal harmonies that are so evident in early Yes. This of course makes further comparisons with early Yes unavoidable. In their defense, the musicians are all excellent and their arranging skills are superb. Melodic and rhythmic counterpoint is staggeringly complex at times ("My Little Cloud Land"), and it is during these fleeting moments that glimpses of the real Cherry Five come through the thick pea soup of the ELP-early YES hybridization. This is an incredibly high-energy album that compels me to get my Rickenbacker 4003 bass out and rip right alongside it. Highly recommended."
What a wonderful surprise!
Robert Cossaboon | The happy land of Walworth, NY | 04/18/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"Putting this cd in I was expecting the dark music of Goblin's Profundo Rosso, when what I got instead was this wicked jazzy guitar/keyboard intro to "Country Grave-Yard". And that's what you will get here: propulsive rhythms and upbeat vocals. ELP keyboard enthusiasts will be elated as each track is saturated in piano/organ/synthesizer/mellotron--you name it, it's here. But be not mistaken rather than shackle itself with excessive keyboard arrangements, Cherry Five soars instead. On "Dorian Gray" there are some wonderful moments when the guitarist seems almost ready to steal everything and run with it. "Oliver" is interesting for its Yes Album sound-alike tone. One of the best tracks is "My Little Cloud Land" which pulls off some nice Doobie Brotheresque vocals while at the same time keeping both the guitar and keyboard in tight reign. Yes, the comparisons will abound for any listener: ELP, Yes, PFM, even Kansas. Cherry Five is an excellent timepiece of mid-seventies prog rock."
A very promising start!
Glen Bourgeois | Cheticamp, Nova Scotia Canada | 07/10/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I'm getting used to hearing groups that take a page from the musical notebook of Yes. Some are very interesting (Morse Code from Quebec, Canada, and Druid from England), and others are less so (Starcastle being one of them). Cherry Five fall into the "astounding" category. The first two tracks are dynamite ("English Graveyard" and "The Ghost of Dorian Grey"). The rest tapers off, but is still listenable (although at times forgettable). I know little about Goblin (except for my copy of "Suspiria", which doesn't hold me, and the track "Roller", which I love). Maybe I should get into these guys a bit more..."
Excellent Italian progressive rock w/vocals in English
Allen Ray | Chuncheon, Gangwon Province, South Korea | 08/03/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"These guys recorded this one album in 1975, then had a personnel change and went on to become Goblin, a unit which is well-known for its horror film soundtracks. What they produced under the name of Cherry Five is nothing like that at all, though. This is very much British-influenced progressive rock in the vein of Yes and ELP, emphasis on the former. The vocal harmonies are excellent and on most tracks remind one of Peter Banks-era Yes. Additionally, "Pictures of Dorian Grey" has a rhythm section in the verses similar to "Your Is No Disgrace," and so on. The singer has a very pleasing voice, even though most of the time his English isn't completely intelligible. There are lots of short but great mellotron passages as well as organ, piano, electric piano (Wurlitzer?), Rickenbacker bass, jazzy-sounding electric guitar, acoustic guitar, and Bruford-esque drums, all skillfully executed by some great musicians.Minor complaints: Track 1 starts out lower in volume than the other tracks. Was this intentional, or ...? Also, Track 2 doesn't actually end until about 29 seconds into Track 3. (Oops! Someone goofed...) Finally, The Swan Is A Murderer Part One and The Swan Is A Murderer Part Two were obviously one song that was divided on the original vinyl due to limitations of that format, so the result is that Track 3 fades out and Track 4 fades back in at the same place, when the two tracks could just as easily have been combined. ELP did this with the CD-version of Karn Evil 9 First/Second/Third Impression on Brain Salad Surgery, so why not Cherry Five? This is nit-picking, of course. None of these things detracts from the listening experience. Every track on this CD is up-tempo, driving, expertly performed, and fun. While there's nothing on here that isn't derivative of what was out at the time, this is still an exciting listen. Anyway, get this one! It's pretty darn good, which makes it all the more valuable to me because I'd gone all these years and not heard of it before. Another "buried treasure" for sure. Highly recommended for lovers of early 70s progressive rock, especially ELP and Yes."
Track Listings (6) - Disc #1