LEGEND

It was difficult to make '70s-style progressive rock in the '90s. How could you avoid infusing it with the riffs, rhythms and timbres of modern metal or techno? And if you did, how could you prevent it from sounding stale, sounding like the pastiche it was?

Miraculously, Legend achieved this - this is the equal of anything Yes, Rush, Camel, Jethro Tull, Renaissance or Steeleye Span produced in the '70s (and if you think that last name is out of place...I'm giving reference points for the sound of the album). In terms of sonic integrity it can't be faulted - there are no out-of-place synth or guitar timbres that instantly date it, it really could have come from the '70s AND been hailed as a classic in that decade. Or to put it another way, while it never sounds exactly like any of the above, it's unmistakeably a product of the same mindset.

The vocals - wow! Imagine an classically-trained Maddy Prior - or maybe a voice with all the power of Annie Haslam but with a wee bit more grit, more edge.

Much could be said of the `short' songs - e.g `Holly King', which may be a song about the winter solstice with a neo-medieval verse melody, but make no mistake it outclasses any similarly-designed Tull song! But the major selling-point here is `Triple Aspect' itself, the thirty-minute suite which dominates the album. Lyrically it's outstanding: it could be interpreted as pagan-religious devotional music - a hymn to the mother goddess, or simply as a hymn to womankind. Musically...let's just say it's as powerful in its way as `2112' and `Thick As A Brick Part 1', both of which it echoes (but only momentarily). It is, it must be said, slightly over-extended: in particular the overture (being a foretaste of each of the three major movements) goes on for too long. But such complaints will seem pathetic and purposeless by the time you reach the anthemic (and truly inspiring) final movement.