First Aid ~ England

Nostradamus (1977)

---2/9/11

OK, I've looked all over my LP for evidence. The label says 1976 and the gatefold cover says 1977. It just can't be. It has to be 1971 right? Even the old style Decca label seems ancient. Everything about it looks and sounds from another era. Did Decca have this one sitting in the vaults - perhaps mislabeled, and decide to release it six years later? Nostradamus, as you can imagine, is a high minded concept album about the supposed fortune teller. Complete with orchestrations, narration - and long guitar / organ jams. Intertwined with melodic pop songs of course. Right on Brother! If this sounds like something out of the Moody Blues or Salamander playbook, well then, you win first prize in the name-that-band sweepstakes. Of course, given this kind of anachronistic behavior, I think it's great. 

---9/29/26

That was my CDRWL entry. Time to enter into UMR while enjoying a revisit. More about the date, as Discogs had it listed as from 1976. For my correction submission notes, I added: "The dates on the label say 1976, but inside the gatefold it is 1977. Further, keyboardist Keith Parkinson offered this on RYM: "This album was recorded in 1975. Unfortunately, this was shortly after the release of a book about Nostradamus. The author of the book tried to sue Decca for copyright infringement. The author was unsuccessful but this delayed the release of the album till January 1977.""

In reading this, Parkinson (who was responding to my review actually) clearly was making the argument the album was relevant for 1975, but I'd beg to differ. It really does sound like a Moody Blues album circa 1971, had they focused on a prog rock theme, versus striving for hits.

I find music like this enjoyable from a nostalgic perspective, including the sentimental melodies. I suppose a band like Strange Days, heck even Kestrel, were peddling this kind of sound as late as 1975. So I can see Parkinson's point of view a little better. It's a nice title, one that I will certainly hold onto. Yet it would be a long time before I pulled this out as a supreme example of prog rock of the 70s.

Of interest, in the olden days of the rare prog catalogs, this album was sold with the title First Aid by the group Nostradamus. In fact, I think I bought my copy with that designation.

Ownership: 1977 Decca (LP). Gatefold. Acquired in 1995.

1995; 2/19/11 (review); 9/29/26 (update)

No reissues exists as I enter this on 9/29/26.

9/29/26 (new entry)