01	Alone In Georgia						04:33
	02	(A Balad Of) A Peaceful Man						07:09
	03	Jule's Delight						06:58
	04	Messenger						05:58
	05	Can Anybody Hear Me						02:59
	06	Old Tin Box						04:47
	07	Won't Talk About It						03:08
	08	Home Again						03:31

Vertigo 1970

Gravy Train - "(A Ballad of) A Peaceful Man" (1971)
The second album, "(A Ballad of) A Peaceful Man" revealed a band who had matured beyond belief in an extremely short time. Although "Can Anybody See Me?" and "Won't Talk About It" rocked just as hard as anything on their debut, most of the heaviness was gone in favour of a much softer, more symphonic and melodic sound. The result was in my opinion an album that featured some of the strongest and finest songwriting ever on an album from the early 70's. The band had also added strings and some Mellotron to their sound. In addition to the wonderful melodies, the tasty arrangements made the album an instant classic of early British progressive rock. The flute was still very dominant and played some truly wonderful melodies in tracks like "Julee's Delight", "Messenger" and the title-track. "Alone in Georgia" is basically a symphonic pop-song that gives me goosebumps while the closing track "Home Again" featured some ethnic-sounding flute that made the track sound quite a lot like Jade Warrior. "(A Ballad of) A Peaceful Man" is essential in any collection, and its in fact one of the albums I would have taken with me to a deserted island.


Gravy Train - "Second Birth" (1973) After more than two years and a change of label(the two first albums were both released on Vertigo but now the band had signed a deal with Dawn) the follow-up to "(A Ballad of) A Peaceful Man" was finally released in 1973. But it proved to be hard for the band to make an album that could rival the standard of that masterpiece. While "Second Birth" is far from a bad album, it just can't compare to the peaceful man. Anyway, there's of course some highlights here, like the superb title-track, the frenetic "Motorway" and the weird psychedelic/heavy progressive combination of "Fields and Factories". "Peter" is a decent rocker but not progressive at all and "Tolpuddle Episode" is a nice acoustic track with a strong folk-influence. The rest of the album varies from mediocre to straight out crappy. The worst songs are probably the extremely boring "September Morning News" and the slick pop of "Strength of a Dream". "Morning Coming" is a very typical Gravy Train flute-driven rock track with progressive tendencies but sounds kind of uninspired and tired. And the falsetto-styled vocals they had begun to use on several of the tracks are rather annoying in my ears. I usually like high and light vocals but they just doesn't fit into Gravy Train's sound. The conclusion must be that "Second Birth" unfortunately failed to keep the promises of "(A Ballad of)A Peaceful Man".


Gravy Train - "Staircase to the Day" (1974) The band had expanded to a 5-piece with an additional guitarist for their 4th and last album. It also included a bunch of guest-musicians who added synths and electric violin to the sound. Flutist J.D. Hughes had also chosen to focus less on the flute in favour of all his keyboards. Although he obviously had an impressive arsenal of organ, Mellotron, clavinet and piano, it was used in a rather subdued and sparse way. And his flute could now surprisingly only be heard on two of the eight tracks on the album. The band was obviously focusing more on the strength of the songs themselves instead of any of the musicians in the band. Even if "Staircase to the Day" was not up there with "(A Ballad of) A Peaceful Man" it was still a fresher, more inspired and livelier album as a whole than "Second Birth". "Starbright Starlight" opens the album in a striking way with lots of clavinet and spacey synths that fits the band surprisingly well. "Never Wanted You" varies between energetic, bluesy hard rock and melodic, sweeping Mellotron-passages. The two most typical progressive tracks here are the mellow and baroque-influenced title-track and "Busted in Schenectady". There are also two excellent and tasty ballads here in form of the soulful "Bring My Life Back on to Me" and the piano-based "Evening of My Life". "Going for a Quick One" is a straightforward but very enjoyable rocker, while "The Last Day" is the track that reminds most of earlier Gravy Train. Overall, this album was a breath of fresh air after the disappointing "Second Birth" and it also showed exciting signs of new directions. However, "(A Ballad of) A Peaceful Man" remains Gravy Train's masterpiece and that's of course also the album to get by this band.



Gravy Train - (A Ballad Of) A Peaceful Man

Released: 1970 / 2002 / 2003
Label: Vertigo / Repertoire / Akarma
Cat. No.: 6360051 / 4122 / AK??
Total Time: 37:45


Reviewed by: Keith "Muzikman" Hannaleck, November 2003
Gravy Train was an above average rock band that had enough talent to make a successful foray into the territory of progressive rock.

On their 1970 release (A Ballad of) A Peaceful Man, the use of flute (J.D.Hughes) was similar to how Jethro Tull utilized the instrument in a rock setting. Their sound was decidedly progressive, leaning more towards a harder rock sound (for the time) with some sharp guitar playing (Norman Barrett), although the vocal side of the house was a little weak in comparison to their overall musical adeptness. If those two factors could have been equal, perhaps this band would have enjoyed more success. Like everything else, timing and marketing will make you or break you; in this case, they were a very good band but their gravy train never came in.

Rating: 4/5

More about (A Ballad Of) A Peaceful Man:

Track Listing: Side One: Alone In Georgia ( 4:32) / (A Ballad of) A Peaceful Man (7:09) / Jule's Delight (6:59)

Side Two: Messenger (5:58) / Can Anybody Hear Me (3:00) / Old Tin Box (4:47) / Won't Talk About It (3:08) / Home Again (3:32)

Musicians:
Norman Barrett - Lead Guitar, Vocals
Barry Davenport - Drums and Percussion
J.D. Hughes - Flute, Keyboards, Saxophone, Vocals
Lester Williams - Bass, Vocals

Discography

Gravy Train (1970)
(A Ballad Of) A Peaceful Man (1970)
Second Birth (1973)
Staircase To The Day (1974)