Capability Brown
Voice

I picked it up for a few Euros in a small shop in the city center, damp and very dusty, intent on reselling used and very used books, magazines, CDs, and DVDs at a low price. As soon as I spotted it, sitting on a shelf along with a few others, a couple of synapses that had been dormant for forty years reconnected, and I remembered that I had considered these guys well enough ages ago, but immediately set them aside because, at the time, there was much better stuff to spend the few coins in my teenage pockets on.

Capability Brown (a name that refers to the nickname and surname of a British landscape architect) was a band from that somewhat rock blues and somewhat progressive undergrowth that thrived in the early seventies, in the shadow of the many high-caliber bands of the time, then in their prime season. A sextet in which everyone sang and played something, a jumble of guitars and keyboards that worked hard but didn’t achieve anything of particular interest, with no soloist rising from the chaos. The vocal parts are much more pleasant in the choruses than in the solo singing, as there wasn't even a dominant and charismatic singer in the sextet.

The album is quite curiously divided into two distinct parts, corresponding to the sides of the original LP. The first part contains four compositions that can definitely be defined as more rock blues than progressive, distinguishable as follows:

"I Am and So Are You" at the start is a rhythm and blues with an approximate lead vocal and instead turgid and rich six-voice chorus refrains. The guitars attempt harmony themes but they're just not up to it, far from Wishbone Ash, to say the least!

"Sad Am I" is a semi-acoustic semi-ballad with an American flavor, once again adorned with sumptuous choruses, but the melody is nothing special. The drum & bass finale is curious, let's put it that way.

"Midnight Cruiser" is a mid-tempo dynamically swinging between delicate verses and the usual, powerful six-voice chorus refrains. The instrumental inserts are laughable, with harsh and uncohesive guitars.

"Keep Death Off the Road (Drive on the Pavement)" is an early Fleetwood Mac-like hard boogie, with melodies and instrumental ideas that are absolutely standard, the usual lush choruses, the guitars barking convincingly but jagged and not very pleasant. Plenty of energy, if nothing else, and the usual pleasant atmosphere of classic rock of yesteryear (this consideration being dictated by personal taste).

The last piece, with the ponderous title "Circumstances (In Love, Past, Present, Future Meet)" lasts over twenty minutes and is the one for which these Capability Brown are remembered (?), as well as counted among the minor progressive bands of the seventies. In fact, it is a suite that, without ever rising much and staying well away from contemporary masterpieces (we're in the year of "Dark Side of the Moon", for instance), unfolds a remarkable patchwork of situations very different from each other and stuck together a bit with tape, as was often done at the time.

The most notable phase is represented by the a cappella polyphonic choruses, which are introduced around the fourth minute and last a couple of minutes, then extending more broadly and less virtuously once the rhythmic instruments come in. For the rest, a pout pourri of flutes, harpsichords, balalaikas, Mellotron, synthesizers, electric guitar chases with wah wah, hefty drum rolls, gentle vocals placed over classical guitars, scattered jam sessions. As usual, the most interesting and peculiar twists coincide with the moments when all six lads give it their all with their vocal cords. However, it all takes on a somewhat pretentious, didactic air. Technique (not abundant here anyway) and knowledge are not enough: it is musicality that is lacking, deep inspiration...

An album destined for fans of the good old days of young rock, when you could convince record labels and producers to let you record anything, even muddled but joyously rich attempts like this unknown and tenderly old-fashioned suite.

The cover is beautiful and peculiar, naturally executed by the Hipgnosis of pinkfloydian fame.