East of Eden

East of Eden's second album had to be one of the least commercial albums ever to enter the British Top 30, as well as one of the most stylistically diverse. The term "progressive rock" fit as well as any, yet much of it was rather along the lines of early jazz-rock fusion, with lengthy hard-to-hum instrumental passages. But there was a lot of Eastern influence as well, especially on those pieces that highlighted Dave Arbus' violin and flute. Some of the absurdist humor along the lines of Frank Zappa and the Soft Machine makes itself known too, though East of Eden were more serious than Zappa and less whimsical than the Softs. Indeed, it's a rather sober affair that sometimes approaches gloominess, and like the late '60s/early '70s Soft Machine, it's more oriented toward virtuosic instrumental sections than vocals and lyrics…

By the time this third album came out, little was left of the original spirit of East Of Eden and only violinist Dave Arbus of the original line-up. They had changed from one progressive label Deram to another Harvest, but also lost their experimental edge in the process. As a matter of fact, aside from more conventional song structures, this album has a slight country music feel. This album is quite far removed from the experimental forays of their first two albums, but the album has many charms and holds some interest for progheads.

East of Eden's debut LP is one of the hardest-rocking albums to come out of the progressive rock movement, and maybe the best non-Rolling Stones albums issued by English Decca label during the late 1960s. It's also one of the most daring debut albums of its period, less tightly focused than, say, King Crimson's Court of the Crimson King, but otherwise equally bold and maybe more challenging. The whole record is eerie - coming from a pop culture where most psychedelic rock tended toward the light and airy - East of Eden use high-impact bass, drum, and guitar parts mixed with the distinctly Oriental and Central/Eastern European classical influences. The first track is a surprise coming from any British psychedelic band of the period, opening with a pounding heavy metal beat pumped out on Steve York's bass and Dave Dufort's drums, while Dave Arbus' electric violin subs for what would normally be the rhythm guitar part…