Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Glass Hammer
Label: Arion
Release: 2010
Length: 66:47
Rating: 4/5
»If« was the first Glass Hammer album with Jon Davison as lead singer, and for the prog revivalists, with their many ups and downs, it marked the start of a new era in more ways than one. Two years later Davison even became the best-known musician in Glass Hammer’s whole story so far, as a member of English prog rock legends Yes, which he surely never imagined in his wildest dreams when he joined the American symphonic prog veterans. With Davison on board, Glass Hammer became even more symphonic than before and won themselves plenty of new fans along the way. At the same time, they had never sounded so much like Yes, mainly because of Davison’s uncanny vocal kinship with Jon Anderson, which was both a blessing and a curse for a band that was never exactly a beacon of musical originality.
The feeling that Glass Hammer had fallen completely under the Yes spell on »If« was only boosted by the new logo and the cover art by Tom Kuhn, who took his cue from the legendary British graphic designer Roger Dean. Yes were always among Glass Hammer’s key influences, along with Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Kansas and Genesis, but now it became a lot more obvious, though not in a distracting way, because every composition on the album is played in a top-notch, fun way, and they ‘tucked’ in enough sonic touches of their own along the way. »If« was also the debut of new guitarist Alan Shikoh, whom both founders, keyboardist/backing vocalist Fred Schendel and bassist/keyboardist/backing vocalist Steve Babb, brought into the band as one more outstanding talent, further enriching their melodic approach to symphonic prog rock.
Already on »If« Davison could hit extremely high registers that Jon Anderson was no longer capable of reaching, which was one more reason Yes later invited him into the band. Luckily, apart from Shikoh, whose guitar approach really does evoke Steve Howe at times, the Glass Hammer instrumentalists don’t sound like carbon copies of the Yes members, so there’s no danger of the band accidentally turning into the next Starcastle. Glass Hammer’s lyrics, already full of fantasy, cosmological and spiritual messages, got even more ‘Yes-style’ spiritual once Davison arrived.
Even the individual song titles on »If« sound like something that could only have grown in Jon Anderson’s ‘garden.’ »Beyond, Within« is a nearly twelve-minute epic with elements of symphonic prog and jazz fusion, ruled by brilliant melodic arrangements and complex rhythmic nuances. The keyboard variety is wonderfully rich throughout and would make even Rick Wakeman proud, while with Davison’s vocals coming in, the song moves firmly into symphonic prog territory and it all recalls Yes from the first half of the seventies. Sparkling improvisational moments never run out any time soon, yet Glass Hammer nicely nurture their symphonic sophistication at the same time.
»Behold, The Ziddle« has an ambient, enigmatic intro with fun jazz fusion touches, which lasts until the wild guitar and keyboard improvisations kick in, always held in check by the melodic structure of this ambitious nine-minute epic. It’s precisely those jazz fusion interludes that keep Glass Hammer from sounding too much like Yes, even if Davison is a spitting image of the young Jon Anderson and Shikoh keeps chasing Steve Howe’s guitar approach. In the middle there’s a surprisingly dark and somewhat chaotic section that doesn’t quite suit Davison’s voice, but the band soon finds its footing and steers this rhythmically complex piece into positive, epic waters, filling out their sound to the max with a mighty percussion section along the way.
On the organ-heavy »Grace The Skies«, ruled by gorgeous vocal harmonies, Davison really shines with his solemn ‘cooing,’ since the central symphonic arrangement suits the nature of his voice to a tee. The slightly jazzy »At Last We Are«, where amazing keyboard variety once again dominates among angelic vocals, features fun sounds on the minimoog and electric sitar, while this time the pastoral interludes also get more room to breathe.
»If The Stars« is a little over ten minutes long, an epic with a slow start ruled by minimalist guitar and piano passages and dramatic vocalizations, until it moves into a grand, pompous section during which Davison’s ‘heavenly’ vocals float on nostalgic waves of mellotron. »If« closes with a twenty-four-minute super-epic titled »If The Sun«, which in length, structure and atmosphere is the most ambitious and interesting piece on the album, with plenty of clever time changes, intelligent improvisations and magnificent symphonic moments. Here Schendel and Babb, once the band’s lead singers, come to Davison’s aid with backing vocals. The comparison with some of the Yes super-epics comes naturally, though in the nature of its arrangements and the way the individual harmonies are laid out, »If The Sun« doesn’t recall any of them.
It would be unfair to accuse Glass Hammer of becoming just a very good but soulless American Yes clone with »If«, since the album is a blend of plenty of other symphonic prog and jazz fusion influences plus thoroughly original improvisational tunes, and as a whole it’s a real treat to listen to, without a single dull moment.
Compared with some past letdowns, especially the previous two albums (the band probably forgot its predecessor »Three Cheers For The Broken-Hearted« (2009) as fast as it could), »If« is a big step forward for a group many had already written off. You can’t really expect originality, let alone innovation, from Glass Hammer anymore, and as long as they were playing music this well, music that Yes had somewhat lost the true feel for in their old age, there was nothing wrong with that. What’s more, on »If« and on the follow-up, a kindred album »Cor Cordium« (2011), Glass Hammer sounded quite a bit better than Yes in their »Fly From Here« (2011) phase.
Lineup
Jon Davison – vocals
Fred Schendel – keyboards and steel guitar, backing vocals
Steve Babb – bass guitar and keyboards, backing vocals
Alan Shikoh – guitar
Randall Williams – drums
Production
Fred Schendel and Steve Babb
Track list
1. Beyond, Within (11:44)
2. Behold The Ziddle (9:11)
3. Grace The Sky (4:29)
4. At Last We Are (6:46)
5. If The Stars (10:25)
6. If The Sun (24:02)
