Island - Pictures 1977  (full alum)
Channel: Thebestdream I had
Date: 2019-08-25

I do not own the copyright to this recording. This video is for historical and educational purposes only. 

Line-up / Musicians

Benjamin Jäger - lead vocals, percussion
Güge Jürg Meier - drums, gongs, percussion
Peter Scherer - keyboards, pedal-bass, voices crotales
René Fisch - sax, flute, clarinet, triangle, voices 

Tracks Listing

01.Introduction 
02.Zero
03.Pictures 
04.Herold And King / Dloreh 
05.Here And Now 
Bonus track 
06.Empty Bottles 

"Quite possibly one of the most original and odd progressive rock records I've heard over the years. Some people call Island as the Swiss Van der Graaf Generator and while the bands have some similarities this only LP by Island is even more complex than anything VdGG ever made. The singer Benjamin Jäger was formerly on the heavy psych band Toad which released some impressive records earlier in the 70's.

This record really tries to set the progressive rock standards into a new level when it comes to complexity of the songs. Just take a look at the song "Herold and King (Dloreh)" for example and you'll see what I mean. The vocalist tries to speak the lyrics in reverse for God's sake. As you might guess the instrumental work is just superb in an album like this. The overall feeling of the LP is very much on the avant-prog side.

If you're into progressive rock this is an essential album to check out. But you might need to give it a couple of listens until you get it. At least I needed to listen to this album like four or five times before I really knew what I felt about it. And the album has grown on me after every listen. Island's only album Pictures is definitely not for those who are new to prog. If you're interested in starting to get into the wonderful world of progressive rock don't start your journey with this album. It just might be a bit too much for a start."

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/island/pictures.p/