Dinosaurdays - Spring

Spring - Golden Fleece, from their self-titled debut and, sadly, only album, released in 1971, once again, on the rare RCA Neonl abel. To borrow a few words from Vernon Joynson's "The Tapestry of Delights", it's 'difficult not to run out of superlatives' when it comes to this fine UK progressive outfit. It's probably the best 70's era progressive album to come out of the UK and, like Gentle Giant's "In a Glass House", should occupy a spot in the collection of any self-respecting lover of the genre. The band was formed in the early seventies by vocalist/mellotron player Pat Moran, keyboard player Kips Brown, drummer Pique Withers, bassist Adrian Maloney and guitarist /keyboard player Ray Martinez. This band's use of the mellotron, a kind of early sampling machine, was their trademark, and they did it tremendously well. Stunning vocals, unique military-type rhythms and superb guitar playing make this a 'must have' album. The three previously unreleased tracks, destined for release on a mooted second album which never materialized, endorse that fact. Original copies of the album are quite collectable, as are most albums on this very good record label. Drummer Pique Withers went on to Dire Straits, Pat Moran (as producer) and Ray Martinez ended up in Airwaves in the late 80's. Moran was also involved, as producer, with The Jon Butcher Axis, amongst a number of others. Martinez also featured with Alkatraz, Michael Chapman, Gypsy and others.