Rare Bird - Epic Forest (1972)

RARE BIRD is a quartet that relied heavily on keyboards as both Kafinetti and Field played together, the former on piano and synthesizers and the latter on organ - much like PROCOL HARUM but without the inspiration and latter on GREENSLADE. They had a good hit with “Sympathy” in the UK but especially in Continental Europe where they became quite popular, their sound often reminding BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST. This double kb attack held no place for a guitarist until Field left along with the drummer Ashton and another keyboard player Lamb. This change occurred also as they switched to Polydor label and they took on a guitar player, and played a harder rock with some funky lines. Nic Potter of VDGG played on two albums of the second line-up and John Wetton guested on one. Hugues Chantraine, BELGIUM Prog Archives

Late 60’s/ 70’s British Progressive rock band RARE BIRD released a few great albums over their career with “Epic Forest” representing one of their milestones. Although RARE BIRD are best known for their organ-driven progressive sounds, “Epic Forest” reduced the emphasis of the keys here and added a wider jazz prog feel with a slightly more contemporary 70’s soft rock vibe. The musicianship is very strong with some great vocal harmonies and instrumentation. As in all early RARE BIRD albums the songs are very well written and are very memorable with Dave Kaffinetti as the helm of the song writing department (later in his career would co-write with Big House, MARILLION). On this album we saw the departure of Graham Field and Mark Ashton who were replaced by Fred Kelly (drums) and Ced Curtis on guitar. Instrumentally these guys were excellent with very much an original develop sound and approach. loserboy Prog Archives

Thanks to Alex Giltin for the photos

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