Nice to hear cousin Ivan comment on anything he has ever done even if I disagree with him about his own work. Truth be told, I was a tad disappointed in "Common One" when it slid out. Y'see I'd already had five or six years to soak in "Veedon Fleece" and the kinda lightweight unfunky grooves of "Common One" could never pass muster in the same room as the first trancendental side of Veedon Fleece's vinyl which comprised "Fair Play/ Linden Arden/ Masked Man/ Streets of Arklow/ You Don't Pull No Punches...".
The flow of "Streets of Arklow" through to the end of "You Don't Pull No Punches But You Don't Push The River" is simply a tour-de-force of acoustic guitar, piano, flute, double bass, orchestra and a drum kit. And Ivan is so on top of it. Dark Irish Pastoral. Never topped. Oh yeah and even back in 1974 when he was recording "Veedon Fleece" cousin Ivan was already namechecking young Andrew Eldritch's Gothboys..."William Blake and the Eternals, standin' with the Sisters of Mercy... Looking for the Veedon Fleece, yeah!"
"Common One" while nodding towards Avalon and trying to invoke Wordsworth and Coleridge over some sorta 1980 semi-funk... of a "Summertime in England"... well it just didn't quite get there for me. I loved the opener "Haunts of Ancient Peace" though... just went a bit askew for me after that.
I'm done. Now off to slip on the Veedon Fleece CD...
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