Deeds and Talks is an album that's been in my scope for many years, but it's not anything that ever resonated with me. Despite glowing reviews, on first impact the album fell flat to my ears. Now some 30 years have passed, and I've reacquired the LP. Let's try it one more time.
OK, yea, this is the kind of sound I embrace more now than then. It's a song based album with plenty of progressive rock interludes. My reaction back then would have been too much song and not enough prog. Though I could always go for more of the latter, I'm appreciating the former more. I had similar reactions to fellow countrymen Tasavallan Presidentti and Wigwam when I first heard them. Today I like them all. One can hear Jethro Tull, Procol Harum, Stevie Wonder, and The Beatles mixed in with the usual suspects of Genesis and ELP. English is the language of choice though one can hear parallels to the Swedish Kaipa as well. Fine 1977 styled analog instrumentation makes the music easy on the ears. Not everything here is aces, but overall the album passes the "line to gain" by a yard or so.
Ownership: 1977 M&T (LP)
1994 (first listen); 2010; 10/8/24 (review / new entry)
