Under The Shadow of the Moon (EMI Music Germany, 2013)
Janus, a British rock band that was started in Germany and led an itinerant life for a few years is considered by some a 1970s progressive rock pioneer. Their album Under The Shadow of the Moon was originally planned for 1973. Many years later, it has become a reality. Under The Shadow of the Moon begins with the title track, an ambitious 21-minute suite. It contains a series of music vignettes, most of them instrumental where you can find exquisite progressive-symphonic rock, bits of Floydian space rock, jazzy saxophone, a few Beatles-style orchestrations and also less interesting hard rock.
The best cut, however, is the much shorter ’Dark Dark’, which has a dreamy atmosphere, much better vocals and engaging guitar work. The rest of the album consists of short ballads, pop-rock and hard rock songs.
The musician behind Janus is original group member Colin Orr on vocals, guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards. The guests include Rikki Hanson-Orr on clarinet, keyboards, backing vocals and lead vocals on ‘Under The Shadow Of The Moon;’ Thea Hanson-Orr on tenor saxophone; Dean Houston on alto saxophone; Ben Stafford on keyboards, backing vocals; Rachel Luxon-Robinson on backing vocals; and Pam Hodkinson on backing vocals
The first two tracks make the band attractive to progressive rock fans. With so many British bands regressing into metal and hard rock, it’s hard to know what direction the next project will take.