Gracious
Gracious!

Prog Rock, in its most glorious season (the '70s), gifted us with memorable records and bands. But often it happened that one of these bands, after releasing a couple of albums, disappeared without a trace. In Italy, for instance, it happened with Biglietto Per L'inferno, which vanished as if nothing had happened after releasing only two LPs, leaving our country with a tremendous musical and cultural legacy. In fact, it's not surprising that today Biglietto is considered one of the many cult bands of the Italian Prog scene.

A similar thing happened in England with Gracious, a band I personally have little knowledge of, especially due to the lack of information on the Web. But fortunately, I managed to listen to the only two albums they released. The one I'm reviewing is the first, simply titled "Gracious!". It is an incredibly varied album, ranging from Hard Rock to Classical music. These two genres, light-years apart from each other, are highlighted in tracks like "Introduction" and "Fugue In 'D' Minor", the latter being a real duet between acoustic guitar and harpsichord. Additionally, in this record, there are sounds that anticipate the Dark genre by a few years, a genre that would only come to the fore in the '80s thanks to representative groups like Cure and Bauhaus, and which takes form in this album in the track "Hell". It's precisely here that I'd like to pause, on this track which, in my opinion, is the central point, the fulcrum of "Gracious!". The beginning is characterized by keyboard play reminiscent of Keith Emerson's style, then suddenly the guitar throws sharp sounds getting faster and faster, until it gathers with the bass and drums, shooting notes like a machine gun. After this "turbulent" introduction, you are enveloped by the complete darkness of the guitar riff, then suddenly after a couple of minutes, the atmosphere seems to change along with all its rhythms, becoming more surreal and playful... But in the end, it returns to the unsettling introductory theme.

And finally, "Heaven" and "The Dream" should not be underestimated. The first catapults us into a climate of tranquility and pleasure, especially due to the refined and very clean vocals, like in a parish chant. The second is a 17-minute suite. In my opinion, the title says it all! I can only tell you that every time I listen to it, I imagine many beds traveling like cars, with many people sleeping peacefully on them, without the daily problems we all have... against a black background decorated with sandy mountains, moons, and stars.

"Gracious!": a record that embodies all the characteristics of Prog Rock.