As Your Mind Flies By – RARE BIRD***

What You Want To Know/Down On The Floor/Hammerhead/I’m Thinking/Flight

As Your Mind Flies By was the second album from the idealistic British rock band Rare Bird. More popular on the continent than at home their music is best remembered for the inventive use of Hammond organ and the absence of guitars.

“Rare Bird's second album is a major advance over their first, a sublime achievement achieved by the band focusing on the best material from their debut and polishing their songwriting until it shines, and then giving the performances of their lives.”

“In terms of sheer ambition, drama, and experimentation, this easily outstrips its predecessor and lays stake to Rare Bird's claim to be a vitally important band in the early prog scene, even if their later albums never quite managed to measure up to this one. I heartily recommend As Your Mind Flies By to any prog fan, particularly symphonic fans.”

“As before, it starts with a few simple notes on the Hammond but I knew, or certainly hoped, that this would be representative of the rest of the album and thankfully it was. There was still no guitar for this first Rare Bird phase, with Graham Field using mainly Hammond, although he does employ a synth of some type to emulate some guitar sounds. He also plays some piano, which I think is all electric and some harpsichord, also probably electric. The formula is the same as the first album, very melodic with lots of variety and extremes of dynamics.”

“With this work Rare Bird reached their progressive pinnacle and the major reason why was the presence of the massive epic Flight on the flipside. It features organbased British proto prog mixed with psychedelia in a typical period offering, based on harsh vocals, huge organ waves and lighter deliveries on piano and harpsichord and discreet classical influences in some instrumental parts.”

“This is hardly progressive rock, except for maybe the second side's long song. The music is so boring and pedestrian that there's no "progress" being made - it's all keyboards/bass/drums, the kind of keyboard-driven prog that makes you wish for a guitar more than anything else in the world.”

“The music is absolutely stunning and consists of some of the most intriguing stuff recorded at the time. This is a true gem and an essential piece of music, which has lost absolutely nothing of its initial impact.”