Nosy Parker
has been mislabeled as psychedelia,
Baroque pop
,
folk-rock
, and
prog rock
by zealous rare-vinyl dealers and collectors across the globe, but it doesn't quite fit in any of those categories exactly. It does, however, draw from each of those sources, some with more success than others. Regardless of whether the descriptions truly represent
's sound, with the
Gear Fab
reissue it can be easily judged on its own merits and against the claims of its proponents. By those standards, the album may be slightly disappointing to listeners searching for genuine lost treasure.
has its moments -- in fact, quite a few of them -- but according to objective criterion it is decidedly second-rate when stacked against some of the artists (
the Byrds
Genesis
) to whom it has been compared. In the band's defense, the recording may not be entirely representative of its sound, considering it was committed to tape without the benefit of overdubs in a two-day blur in 1975. Nevertheless the album alternates between rather pedestrian (and sometimes downright contradictory)
hard
and
soft rock
impulses, on the one hand, and, on the other, much more interesting, even novel amalgams of
folk
and progressive sensibilities (
"Buskers and Street Musicians,"
"Song for a Gentle Lady,"
the lovely
"Silver Wings"
) that blend delicately picked acoustic melodies, enticing synth tones, and intricate playing, even if they tend to stick around a little too long for their own good or grow full of themselves (as does the suite-like
"Notre Dame"
) or get too wizard-and-warlock-y in the lyric department. Unfortunately, there is too much of the former quality to make
an effort about which the average fan (or even a partisan of the era's music) will get excited, though its stature does increase with each listen. Devotees of ridiculously rare prog-ish music, on the other hand, will probably benefit by giving this one a chance. ~ Stanton Swihart