| Track: | Rating: | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Azrael Revisited | | | | | |
| 2. Hang On To A Dream | | | | | |
| 3. Diary Of An Empty Day | | | | | |
| 4. For Example | | | | ||
| 5. Rondo (69) | | | | | |
| 6. She Belongs To Me | | | | | |
"Hang On To A Dream" written by Tim Hardin. "She Belongs To Me" written by Bob Dylan. All other track written by The Nice (although "Rondo (69)" is based on a David Brubeck piece).
The Nice are generally not the most respected of all progressive groups. Known primarily for (i) setting the stage for Keith Emerson's later career in ELP and (ii) featuring the worst progressive vocalist prior to the emergence of Ashley Holt, The Nice are usually relegated to a side corner of the "prog pantheon" by diehard fans.
The reasons for this aren't too hard to discover. The Nice were among the pioneers of "progressive" music as a distinct entity, and their recordings often have a ragged, ramshackle quality about them (both due to lousy production and occasionally slipshod playing). Together, these two criteria combine to make the group seem a bit of an embarrassment to serious prog fans. Certainly, tracks like "Little Arabella" and "Daddy, Where Do I Come From?" are rather difficult to accept under any definition of "works of art" -- the more serious Nice tracks, similarly, suffer from a certain "half-developed" quality.
If some of the criticism is deserved, however, much of it is not. The Nice were more than capable of creating good music when they wanted to, and if they were underachievers in comparison to what they were capable of, they nonetheless weren't total "washouts" at what they did.
Nice (also known as Everything Nice As Mother Makes It) is one of the more coherent statements by the group, even though it wasn't planned that way. This album was compiled from assorted studio tracks (on side one) and live recordings (on side two) during the period of the group's dissolution -- in spite of this, it may be the most consistently good album that the group ever released (I cannot be sure of this, though, having not heard their entire catalogue).
The work begins with "Azrael Revisited", which must be considered as one of the best "songs" that the group came up with. Also released in some forms under the name "Angel Of Death", the song is given extended treatment here (ie. it has a new middle section, which is fairly good). Emerson's interpolation of Rachmaninoff licks actually serves the song rather well -- even more surprisingly, Jackson's melodramatic vocals (sample lyric: "I told them that Azrael looks down on your decline") suit his voice rather well; perhaps it's simply not very difficult to play the role of a half-mad prophet. One way or the other though, this is an excellent introduction.
This particular version of "Hang On To A Dream" is the best that I've yet heard (though it must be admitted that I've not heard Tim Hardin's original version yet). The "chorus/verse" section of the song is done surprisingly well, and the Emerson-driven instrumental bit is simply classic (on its own, it gets a
The next two tracks are decent-to-good songs -- not quite as good as the first two, but still worthy of some attention. "Diary Of An Empty Day" has good music and more melodramatic lyrics (based on Louis XVI's diaries, perhaps?), but isn't quite good enough of a song to count as something really classic. "For Example" has an intrusive horn section in its introductory section, and is rather disorganized; it has some excellent moments, but rambles far too much.
The previous criticism applies rather well to all of Side Two. "Rondo (69)" is a live version of Emerson's then-signature keyboard extravaganza (Jackson & Davison really don't do very much here). The performance is a bit... well... ragged and ramshacklish at times; when it's "on", it's very good -- other times, though, it simply rambles. I imagine that this must have looked more impressive in concert.
"She Belongs To Me" closes the album on a fitting note -- it's easily the most "rambling" track of the lot. Shifts from Dylan to Mancini to jazz improvisation occur rather frequently, without much keeping the piece together. It's still listenable, but unbelievably unfocused.
Those interested in probing the foundations of prog could do worse than to check out this album. It's far from essential, though.
(review originally posted to alt.music.yes on 5 May 1997)