Gracious - Echo (1996)

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Gracious - Echo (1996)

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A Prog classic exclusive from the CDS Towers vaults, this 1996 comeback album for this legendary 70’s band re-emerges with head held high!Back in 1996 it had been over two decades since this band had released anything, and with 20 years to make a new album, you might expect to get something a bit special, and ‘Echo’ was exactly that! Written, performed and produced by skilful musicians - Old hands of the game with music in their blood, combining all their experience into creating one mighty album that features all the finest elements the melodic 'Prog-Rock' scene could offer.

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Gracious - Echo (1996)

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There are 70's influences a-plenty within ‘Echo’s foundations, but this is really pure, semi-instrumental melodic rock with a definite 1990's sound, where guitars and keyboards meld together in quite spectacular fashion.
‘Echo’ is a shining example of the ‘Progressive’ genre at its very best - Wonderfully melodic at one moment, devastatingly powerful the next, and peaking in all the right places - A totally thrilling experience from start to finish!
The album features quite a stream of influences and styles that range from similarities to the GRACIOUS! of old, to others pertaining to anything between: PINK FLOYD early KING CRIMSON, GENESIS, STRAWBS and ELOY.

This legendary Progressive band was born in the early 70's when the term "Progressive Rock" was just being invented! Their contribution to the early days of the genre is well respected, as their first two albums: the Vertigo "swirl" LP ‘Gracious!’ and the Philips LP ‘This Is Gracious!’ are still highly collectable pieces of vinyl to this very day. The ‘Gracious!’ album is still available from CDS Towers, but say ‘This Is’ is deleted.
The band were one of the leading exponents of the Mellotron at the time with the: ‘Heaven’ track on the Vertigo album featuring one of the best examples of it’s use since King Crimson’s ‘In The Court Of The Crimson King’ LP was released in the late 1960’s. As to the line-up - Two of the original members remain: Robert Lipson (drums) and Tim Wheatley (guitars), although another original; Alan Cowderoy does have a guest guitarist slot on the album). The new member was multi-instrumentalist Sev Lewcowicz, handling keyboards, guitars and some vocals.
On ‘Echo’ the band have a maturity of sound, which is not really surprising when you consider that they have been playing together for 30 years!

‘Echo’ exudes stylish musicianship at every level, with a high-class fusion of keyboards and guitars sharing the workload on the instrumental passages and also serving as a perfect backdrop to the limited amount of vocal parts. The sound of the Mellotron still plays a vital part in the GRACIOUS! sound, especially during some of the magnificently slick instrumental passages where massed keyboards produce throngs of heavenly choirs, deep organ chords and sweeping string sounds to accompany stunning Dave Gilmour-like guitar leads. Some of these passages and themes build to epic proportions, at times coming to huge and deeply explosive conclusions, one of which has the potential to cause structural damage to your speakers J (don't say we didn't warn you!).
There is an epic thirteen-minute closing track to beat them all - A magnificent outpouring of raw emotion and high-class musicianship that will stun you into submission with a huge display of symphonic keyboard work that incorporates choirs, strings and horns, plus fantastic heaven bound singing electric guitar playing.
‘Echo’ is one of these albums that just gets better and better with each new track – It starts of well enough, but builds up to something absolutely stunning by the time it reaches it's dramatic conclusion.
GRACIOUS! are back, to show the world they are even better than before, with music that should draw a Rock and Progressive audience together in it's wake.

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Gracious - Echo (1996)

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Gracious - Echo (1996)

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