I don't automatically buy the idea that all rock operas or concept LPs are bad.
The Kinks,
the Pretty Things, and (maybe) the early Bee Gees made their best LPs this way (Arthur, S.F. Sorrow, and Odessa, respectively), and even the two overdone
Who ones, Tommy and Quadrophenia, were highly enjoyable with some great songs. And who doesn't like
Hüsker Dü's Zen Arcade? When the story is like a developing novel, and the music is complementary and thematic enough to rest on its own (without a lyrical concept), it makes a good LP more interesting. I know, it's more often the other way. The genre doesn't conjure remembrances of self-indulgent prog rock claptrap for nothing! But
Holly's Song is not a transparent, bombastic chart LP. I suppose it is a bit classic rock, albeit with Peter Gabriel's
Genesis/
Adrian Belew/Robert Fripp sort of guitar noodling. The LP is also gothic without being straight goth, progressive and complicated without being prog. It's nearly a darkwave LP in parts, with elements of the aforementioned Odessa and the acoustic Wish You Were Here part of
Pink Floyd. One thinks of bonfires and séances during the more eerie sequences, with Blue's tortured, nervous, low-voiced howl of a vocal in their midst. But the lyrics are pure psychodrama, as a suicidal man battles his own diseased mind after the accidental death of his lover, the last anchor in his life. It's a perilous journey that's hard for anyone to take -- on record or in real life -- and
Holly's Song forces you to take it. If you want a bold statement with pronounced early-'70s leanings, this is, like all good dramas, an important message of redemption through reaching beyond one's troubles. (P.O. Box 179, Boyce, VA 22620;
[email protected]) ~ Jack Rabid