Arden House


Band members                             Related acts

- unknown

 

 

 

- Jasper Wrath

 

 

 


 

Genre: progressive

Rating: 2 stars **

Title:  Coming Back

Company: Dellwood

Catalog: DLD 56009

Year: 1977

Country/State: US

Grade (cover/record): VG+/VG+

Comments: still in shrink wrap (opened)

Available: SOLD

Catalog ID: SOLD 4

Price: SOLD $150.00

 

Genre: progressive

Rating: 2 stars **

Title:  Coming Back

Company: Dellwood

Catalog: DLD 56009

Year: 1977

Country/State: US

Grade (cover/record): NM/NM

Comments: still in shrink wrap (opened)

Available: 1

Catalog ID: 4

Price: $200.00

 

 

Produced by Christopher Hawk (reportedly Christopher Hawke of Jasper Wrath fame), 1977's "Coming Back" is your typical tax scam label release.  That means no writing credits, little or no biographical information, and an extremely short running time - the album barely clocks in over 30 minutes.  Musically the collection took a little while to warm up to.  My initial impression was that these guys were competent, but faceless purveyors of mid-1970s AOR ...  Material like 'The Way You Feel', 'Midnight Mary' and 'Follow Me Down' was tuneful, instantly forgettable, and could easily have been mistaken for something from April Wine, Loverboy, Kansas or any one of the hundreds of big hair bands that jammed top-40 play lists, while occasionally trying to gain a little credibility with the critics by injecting progressive flavors into the mix.  Giving credit where due, these guys were at least flexible when it came to drawing inspiration.  I have absolutely no idea why the abysmal 'Streakin' was included on the set, but the clever and catchy 'Pleasure Trip' recalled something out of 10C.C.'s catalog, while 'Somewhere Beyond the Sun' demonstrated they'd mastered Yes-wannbes 101.  So having played the album a dozen or so times, I'll tell you that there's nothing awe inspiring here, but it's far less pompous then anything the original Genesis ever did.  

 

"Coming Back" track listing:
(side 1)

1.) The Way You Feel - 3:00

2.) Midnight Mary - 3:00

3.) Streakin - 3:00

4.) Pleasure Trip - 2:45

(side 2)
1.) Follow Me Down - 3:05

2.) Lady Modesty - 3:50

3.) Somewhere Beyond the Sun - 5:05   rating; *** stars

The first couple of times I heard 'Somewhere Beyond the Sun' the tune struck me as pretentious rubbish.  Imagine the worst of Yes after they'd spent a long weekend listening to English folk-rock bands like Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span.  Clocking in at just over five minutes, the tune had more lyrics than my graduate thesis with lyrics like "Spy a foam born nymph at waters edge, oblivious working at her play, Frolicking within the world around around her, around the world within her frolics me ..."  Clearly I'm not going to try to convince you this was a wonderful performance, but I will admit it's campiness actually had a certain charm and the anonymous lead guitarist got to cut loose a couple of times.

4.) Coming Back - 9:09

 

 

 

We may never know the whole story behind this album, or that of its companion release, Zoldar & Clark. What is known is that both albums are the work of a band called Jaspar Wrath, who were a Conn. based outfit that managed to release only one album under their own name in 1971. Despite being on a relatively obscure label, the album sold reasonably well, and could still be found at sensible prices well into the 90's, though it has gotten quite scarce by this late date. They continued on long after their album, and along the way, recorded two more album’s worth of material. It is not well documented exactly how these tapes found their way into the clutches of the infamous Guinness tax scam label. This label is well known for releasing albums with, and without, the owner’s permission, sometimes despite the album already being released. They would usually just change the artist name and album title to something completely fabricated, create their own artwork, and then press up usually no more than 200 copies to release as a tax loss. Whether Guinness acquired the tapes on their own, or were presented with them by the band themselves, is unknown, though the latter scenario is unlikely, due to the alternate artist credits. Whatever happened, Guiness relegated both to their Dellwood subsidiary and released them in 1977, the same year as virtually all releases on this family of labels. Exactly when the albums were recorded is another area of intense speculation. Based on the sound of the material included, the Zoldar album sounds as though it was recorded much prior to the Arden album, probably within 2 years of their first album, circa 1973. The Arden House record sounds noticeably later, circa 1976.
   I had been looking for both albums for many years, and finally found both at the same time, this one being a sealed copy. Many thanks to an RYM user who may wish to remain anonymous, for burning me a copy so I didn’t have to break the seal in order to hear it. After listening to the album probably more times than I have listened to any other album in the last 20 years, I have subjected it to intense scrutiny in order to obtain an accurate opinion for this review. I must confess that my initial impression was quite limited. I had listened to the Zoldar album previously, and was impressed, and expected to hear more of the same on this. What I heard instead was something obviously infected with the same cancer that managed to overcome so many of the previously good early 70’s prog bands that were able to survive into the mid and late 70’s. They seemed to outgrow all of their underground tendencies, and succumbed to the prevailing commercial style of the times, producing stuff that was comparatively far removed from what made them great in the first place. And so it is with this album. But let me say one thing: just because an album is not bad, does not necessarily mean it is great, or even good. This album is not bad, but it is not great either. However, after listening to it so many times, I find it is indeed a grower, and has somehow managed to squeak out 3 stars, despite its inherent commercial orientation. The songs are rather catchy, and the musicianship is outstanding, as is often the case with long-lived prog bands. By this time they had become fairly dependent on the synthesizer for their sound, which fit in well with the times. Unfortunately, the synthesizer sound has not stood the test of time well, and may cost them a few points today. Overall, this record sounds like so very many mid-70’s releases. Decent songs, played well, but just not generating enough excitement to propel them to the next level. This album’s value is clearly based on its rarity, coupled with who it really is, rather than on the strength of the music. If you go after this expecting something great, you will probably be disappointed, but if you keep an open mind, you may be rewarded with something to enjoy from time to time.

I hadda get this one eventually,  just out of curiosity.  After a spin or 2...I like it.  Both the Jasper Wrath and Zoldar and Clark LP's are very appealing to my ears.  So, we come to what is basically the 3rd album in the series, once again with a new band name.  What we get is another evolution of the sound.  Whereas Jasper Wrath was a psych-y LP with proggish tendencies, Z&C was a proggish LP with more modern 80's tendencies.  On side 1 of this at least, we get a couple 80's sounding pop-wave clunkers and a couple decent AOR rockers.  Side 2 is much more a late 70's proggy sound closer to the vein of Zoldar and Clark with a dose of Horn/Downes era Yes in the mix (don't let that scare you).  That makes me think this includes leftover tracks from different eras and would not surprise me on a tax scam label.  Based on my tastes,  I'd give this a borderline 4.0 for S2 for some over the top pompous space-synths and nice guitars on the longer tracks and a 3.0 for S1, and thus we split the difference on the whole affair at a 3.5.  One point to make here though, is that both of those aforementioned LP's are growers.  These guys could definitely write a hook and a song, regardless of style.
Arden House is the same band as Jasper Wrath and Zoldar & Clark on the exceedingly rare tax scam label Dellwood.  Side 1 we are treated to pompous commercial oriented AOR with one oddball track called ‘Streakin’ that’s entertaining.  Side 2 starts to pave the way for more of a progressive rock slant, with the last two songs being long winded prog rockers - especially the epic 9 minute closing title song, which sprinkles in nice pompous synth and chorus moments.

 

 

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