I have nothing against the animal itself, but let's be fair: with such a name you're already behind on points, even before you have played one single note. Then you have to be from an excellent breed to still get the fancy of the listener. Unfortunately the band doesn't succeed in this either, because Aardvark plays prog in the vein of Greenslade: up-tempo and with many keyboards, but with less skill and less appeal. As a consequence their debut from 1970 has disappeared without leaving a trace in the music history, until Esoteric Recordings saved it from oblivion more than forty years later. The CD-booklet passionately argues that the musicians in the group were very talented and it places Aardvark amidst bands like Van der Graaf Generator and Rare Bird, mainly because all these bands didn't have a guitarist. However, I only hear a group with mediocre compositions that don't have anything special to mention. **- André de Waal (edited by Peter Willemsen) Where to buy? |
