It’s hard to imagine a band staying together for two years
before calling it a day and creating something beautiful and magical at the
same time. And there was one band that was considered; iconic, influential, and
obscure, was a band called Cressida. They were a part of the Vertigo family and
it’s just amazing in a way they sounded with only two albums they released from
1970 to 1971 (Cressida and Asylum). And here on this 2-CD set released by the
good people from Esoteric Recordings, shows how not just they were Progressive,
but a combination of Hard, Classical, Folk, Jazz, and Soul they have in their
roots, proves to be something spectacular.
Since I’ve championed them back in 2011, it is quite obvious
that they are now one of my favorite bands and how their music can be a
touching yet moving experience to discover on why this band were way ahead of
their time. Their first sole-self titled debut album is more of a spiritual and
sensitive arrangement that Cressida brings to you with a true gift of honor and
a warm-welcome to embark on an amazing ride that is imaginative and innovative.
Not to mention some beautiful centerpieces on the album as well.
From the moment you hear the symphonic One of a Group, which
has some wonderful flourish organ solo work that Peter Jennings does by paying
tribute to a Pre-Tony Banks while guitarist John Heyworth just keeps on going and
follows Peter’s hands to see where he’s going with this before ending with a
Thelonious Monk piano outro. Then there’s the graceful To Play Your Little
Games, which starts off as a sermon then goes into the Psych-Prog-Waltz in the
¾ time signature while the folky touches of Time For Bed and the haunting
Spring ’69 gives them a chance to take a break on their organ exercises for a
mellowing and poignant numbers.
Meanwhile, the homage to Bach’s Toccata and Fugue turned
into an elevating structure on Depression, is raw and intense as John Heyworth
goes into overdrive with his guitar solo as the band follow his work wherever
they take him to into different places while Down Down has a passionate beauty
that has a Fantasy atmospheric story-telling structure. Then you have The Only
Earthman In Town, which sounds like a short story from The Martian Chronicles
by the late great Ray Bradbury has this exciting and sci-fi feel in which the
band are in full circle and are in control and captains of the universe as
Tomorrow is a Whole New Day which has a militant turned angelic feel, almost
sounds like the Rebirth of a new world has begun and a new day has started.
Asylum, released in 1971, as the band stayed true to their
sound from the first album, uses a lot of the Symphonic/Orchestral arrangements
along with Brass, captures the listener to go into these pieces of songwriting
into a whole new level. Again, on Reprieved, Jennings captures the spirit of
Monk as Angus Cullen scats as the band into a walking Jazz dance while he has a
gentle side on the warm-like sunrise with a spooky organ section on Summer
Weekend of a Lifetime.
But it’s the 9-minute epic, Munich, which is where Cullen
himself shines in this part. You have this wonderful string section that sets
the tone as the band in the mid-part go into some Psych-Soul Waltz before the
last few minutes as it goes back into the haunting introduction as Angus just
sings his heart out with the line, “Am I reading into this or that is really
there?/Do I really care?/Is it just the Aura of Everything combined?/Dogging up
my mind?/Mitigating circumstances all you seem to blame/Though it’s all the
same/Now I can really say I know cause I’ve been there/Know cause I’ve been
there, I’ve been there.”
It is so powerful and emotional, that you could tell how you
almost couldn’t play, because of how beautifully structured it is. While Munich
is Cressida’s centerpiece, the 11-minute epic, Let Them Come When They Will, is
another highlight on the album that deserves some recognition. It has a bit of
a Doors resemblance beginning John Culley’s catchy acoustic folk-like chords as
Angus sings the melody that John plays before string quartet comes in before he
and Peter go into town with some wonderful improvisations between both electric
and the powerful Hammond organ along with Iain Clark’s powerful percussion drum
work that goes along with it that gets some tempos into a flaming fire.
Then Angus comes back and really nails it with his
vocalization by singing his heart out that makes it a perfect way for bassist
Kevin McCarthy to go into full swing with some wonderful jazzy bass lines as
the band go into finale mode. The elevating piece, Lisa, which has a powerful
orchestral arrangement and session musician, flautist Harold McNair, brought
some wonderful flute-like work for the melody. The bonus tracks on the album
are the real key that features demos that go back in 1969 and never-before-heard
BBC sessions they did for Sounds of the Seventies.
There’s the powerful thumping Mental State that features a
heavy introduction between McCarthy, Culley, and Jennings doing some
magnificent creativity between the three of them while Situation, which was
originally going to be on the first album, but never made it on the album, they
go into full gear as Cullen sings about a person who is trying to figure what
he or she did was right or wrong “Do you remember saying all the words you
said?/I can hear them moving round within my head/I’ve got a situation, but I
don’t know right from wrong”
It’s a shame the track never made it on the album, but it’s
a deep and stand-out track. The band called it a day back in ’71 and the albums
are still selling for an expensive price and while they reunited in December of
last year at the Camden Underworld, it’s hard to believe where the band could
have gone if they were still together. Their music is still part of the
underground and obscure prog scene that shows they were ahead of their time.
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