Ampersand, Volume 1 (Doone Records, 2004)
Ampersand, Volume 1 is the third album by the great American progressive rock band IZZ. The disc has two types of tracks. The first set, tracks 1-7, are studio tracks. The rest are live recordings with pieces from earlier albums.
IZZ goes acoustic on the first track, ‘Ancient Memory.’ The song begins in folk-rock style with acoustic guitar and vocal harmonies clearly influenced by early Crosby, Stills and Nash. Midway through the piece, keyboardist Tom Galgano treats the listener to one of his tasty, although brief synth solos. Tom Galgano is a skillful keyboardist and the sounds he extracts out of the synthesizers are engaging, not the old presets other bands use. I’m always expecting the solos to last a little longer.
The acoustic tone continues with the ballad ‘Afraid to Be Different.” Things turn electric with the dynamic ‘The Wait of It All’ which includes engaging male vocals and the outstanding female vocals of Annemarie Byrnes. Her voice is not only gorgeous, but her delivery is perfectly suited for progressive rock. I’d love to hear more of her in future recordings. She is undoubtedly one of the finest vocalists in the current progressive rock scene. ‘The Wait of It All’ also features another of Tom Galgano’s signature synth solos.
Ampersand features some short tracks where some of the band members showcase their talent. ‘One Slice to Go’ is one of these; a delightful acoustic guitar piece by Paul Bremner.
‘Confusion’ shows us an elegant pop piece with deep The Beatles influence. It could easily have been a radio hit if the radio gatekeepers wouldn’t keep the doors closed to independent music.
‘The Bar Song’ is another ballad. It’s followed by ‘My Best Defenses,’ a solo piece by IZZ’s other female vocalist, Laura Meade. She sings a beautiful song, accompanying herself on the piano. IZZ has managed to bring together three excellent vocalists. It’s striking, especially when you think that many of the modern bands have very weak vocalists.
The rest of the album is live cuts. ‘Molly’s Jig’ has a Celtic flavor. ‘Razor’ and ‘Another Door’ are well known pieces from earlier albums. The album closes with IZZ’s great progressive rock epic, ‘Star Evil Gnoma Su.’
The line-up for this recording included Tom Galgano on keyboards, vocals, acoustic guitar; Paul Bremner on guitars; Brian Coralian on electronic drums, acoustic drums, programming; Greg Dimicelli on acoustic drums; and John Galgano on bass, vocals, guitars, piano. They were joined by Annemarie Byrnes and Laura Meade on vocals.
Ampersand, Volume 1 shows IZZ incorporating outstanding female vocals, and still showing two tendencies: melodic pop-rock ballads and state of the art progressive rock.