The Enid
Aerie Faerie Nonsense (1977)
EMI Records EWCD17 (2010)
01 - Prelude
02 - Mayday Galliard
03 - Ondine
04 - Childe Roland
05 - Fand I
06 - Fand II
Robert John Godfrey - keybaords
Francis Lickerish - guitars, bass guitar and lute
Stephen Stewart - guitars and percussion
Dave Storey - drums and percussion
Charlie Elston - keyboards
Terry Pack - bass guitar
This is the long lost, original 1977, EMI version of Aerie Faerie Nonsense, previously only released on vinyl.
Recorded at Sarm Studios
1st Engineer: Gary Lyons
2nd Engineer: Gary Langham
Producer: John Sinclair
The original 1/4" master tapes were transferred to 96KHz 24bit digital by Christian Curtis at Abbey Road in June 2010. The tracks were mastered for CD by Max Read at The Lodge Recording Studio.
"The original master lacked bass so I've beefed it up a bit. The full dynamic range of the original has been preserved and no other proccessing or 'cleaning up' has been done apart from manual, graphical removal of clicks and pops." - Max Read
Sleeve notes from the partially re-recorded mid-1980's release:
Aerie Faerie Nonsense is considered by many critics and fans alike to be the group's epic recording mainly because of the presence of the epic track Fand which occupies all of side 2 of the album. Recorded in August and September of 1977, this album once again portrayed RJG's love of combining the style of various classical composer's, most notably on this album Wagner and Rachmaninov, and giving them a rockier edge with the inclusion of more "traditional" rock instruments.
The album in itself is a concept album based on the the quests of the young knight Roland and opens with Prelude. A fanfare heralds the commencement of the album as the whole "orchestra" joins in. This merges into Mayday Galliard, also known as the Bridal Dance. Uplifting and joyful, the track features a fluttering of instruments as the touch is light and playful with the theme played throughout in a variety of fashions almost as if taken from a soundtrack. However, each instrument never overstays its presence allowing the track to flow by in a pleasant fashion.
Ondine (Dear sweet Thing Of wonderful Beauty, Roland's childe) has a baroque feel to it with an acoustic touch. Gone are the brass arrangements as well as the strong percussive crashes and in come the soft strings led by the mournful cellos with a touch of wood sections and light guitaring. The guitar playing is almost all with utilisation of harmonics as the track assumes a mediaeval air as well as an almost fairy tale touch to it.
Childe Roland (To the Dark Tower Came) is the most energetic piece of the first side and the music could well fit in to the prelude of a battle. Reminding me at times of Disney's adaptation of Paul Dukas' music for The Sorcerers's Apprentice, the music features a continuous climax and combination of both guitars and strings with the percussion accentuating those areas when both sets of instruments join together under a unified theme. Without any shadow of doubt, this track is the highlight of the first side of the album and one of the finest and most upbeat tracks the band ever produced.
Side 2 is totally occupied by the epic Fand, a track based on the Bax's, symphonic tome-poem The Garden of Fand (1916). The track in itself is divided into two movements with the first further subdivided into three parts, The Isle Of Brooding Solitude, The Silver Ship-landfall and The Grand Loving. Accompanying these pieces and included on the album is also a piece of poetry title Fand written by Francis Lickerish which recounts the story of Fand, though unlike on RJG's solo album, the text is not put to the music and is just left on the album to allow the listener to follow the music whilst reading the poem.
The overall mood leaves the listener with a very dark and dramatic feeling. What is definite is that this is one of the Enid's crowning achievements and is probably the standard by which all of their music is measured. Apart from the various themes and majestic music, one cannot but note the ability RJG has in creating such pompous symphonic rock without actually involving an orchestra. One further note is that it is incredible how such a person as RJG has gone unnoticed by the world of cinema and has not involved him as a soundtrack composer. The themes he composes and the way these are expressed throughout various pieces of music put various other composers to shame.
Fans of the "heavier" or jazzier side of progressive rock might find this album somewhat too classical. However for all those who love to hear majestic music with broad classical overtones, this album is a must.
More info on The Enid:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Enid
http://www.progarchives.com/artist.asp?id=778
http://www.theenid.co.uk/
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