1. A Fantasy. The old
second side of the album begins with the fifth and final offering on
solo lute. This track by Laurencini of Rome is the longest such track
and the only one not by an English composer. It begins slowly but
eventually warms up with quite a long run before subsiding again towards the end to
something more sedate.
2. Lammy. Most of the old
second side is taken up by a long track named for Akkerman's wife at
the time. The track is divided into six sections that are fairly easy
to distinguish.
1. I am (00:00-00:32)
We
begin with alternating heavy organ from Akkerman and the four person chorus directed by Flynn. This is followed by a relatively lengthy caesura
(00:33-00:34).
2. Asleep,
Half Asleep, Awake (00:35-07:09)
Next comes an increasingly
cacophonous woodwind, synthesiser and percussion section
(00:35-01:59) which gives way to an again
very atmospheric solo on electric sitar by Akkerman (02:00-02:46). It
is the drums and bass with the sitar and later electric guitar
strokes that wake us up (02:47-03:47). To be certain we are awake, this is
followed by a drum solo (03:48-04:29) then bass and drums
(04:30-07:09) with Akkerman's guitar coming into the rhythm at 04:51
and adding some runs from 05:51. This increasingly frenetic section
ends with the crash of a loud gong.
3. She is (07:10-07:40)
Here we revert to the organ and chorus style of the first section.
4. Lammy (07:41-11:49)
After a caesura at 07:41 the violined and strummed guitars lead us
into a beautiful drum backed section that features wonderful strings
from 08:10. At 09:02 the romantic style winds down a little and there
are a series of fresh injections of energy until we are ready to be
led into the next section by the rich strings, which are pretty much unaccompanied from 11:03.
5. Last will and
testament (11:50-12:57)
At 11:50 the strings move on to the next
theme, joined by the lute, first with a single strum (at 12:02) then
with more. Flutes also come in at 12:04. Again the mood created by
strings, flutes and lute is simply beautiful.
6. Amen (12:58-13:59)
The
whole amazing piece is brought to a glorious end with a minute long a capella repetition of
the word amen from the chorus. Prog rock at its very best.