The band's third LP and a liftoff to world wide recognition that would culminate a few years later. While the two previous can be described as prog rock and the following ones as pop this is melodic hard rock and by many fans considered their best album. I have a soft spot for most of the early stuff and since they initially covered various styles it's hard to grade, but if I have to - 1. Salisbury/2. Look At Yourself/3. Very'eavy, Very'umble/4. Demons And Wizards. It seems most of the pop efforts after that became locked in a formula and later hard rock variations often had more surface than substance. But 1971 the songwriting, melodies and lyrics still mattered and was the foundation from which the albums emerged. This has a solid core of seven strong songs - two ballads and five rockers - all very catchy and well played. The band was constantly changing members at the time. On this Ken Hensley and Paul Newton (both former The Gods), Mick Box and David Byron (both former The Stalkers) and Ian Clarke (former Cressida). Guesting are also members of Osibisa and Manfred Mann himself. Gerry Bron production and arrangements fit like gloves and the audio is very good. Favorite tracks are the two longest - "Shadows Of Grief" with the haunting riff and "July Morning" because of the beautiful melody and Manfred Mann's moog solo. Early US on Mercury (SRM 1-614) came with different sleeve design. Also re-issued many times on LP on CD, sometimes with bonus tracks. First UK had label as shown here with ILPS number and "i" logo, die-cut cover with foil mirror and inner with lyrics and Ken Hensley notes. (ÖRHÄ*)(PRÖZ*)
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