Band: Solstice
Band Website: www.solsticewebsite.com
Label: Festival Music Records
Label Website:www.progrock.co.uk
Release Date: 2007
I have to admit it; Solstice is one of my favorite bands. Partially because they were one
of the first of the new wave of progressive bands I discovered and secondly because I love their musical approach. Solstice was part
of that eclectic group of bands who came to prominence in about 1983 along with Marillion, IQ, Pallas Twelfth Night and Pendragon.
There were many others but those were the key bands. And Solstice sounded nothing like them. I first discovered the band when long-time
prog promoter Keith Goodwin gave me a copy of their first LP entitled Silent Dance. On first listen I was hooked on their unique Yes/Renaissance
styled proggy approach. Kind of like a more accessible Curved Air.
It wasn’t until the early nineties that Solstice released
a second recording entitled New Life. Most casual fans had pretty much given them up for dead, but they were back large as life and
sounding just as good as they ever did. Time had not diminished the melodic sweep of their compositions. Then in 1997 the band were
back again with Circles sounding better than ever. A year later, Solstice, who’d made quite a life for themselves performing
live on the odd-occasion and doing all kinds of studio work, released the live disc entitled The Cropredy Set. That brings us up-to-date
disc wise. The discs included in this series include:
Silent Dance (1984) – This 2-disc set includes the original LP remastered,
various early cassette releases and BBC live recordings.
New Life (1992) – This 2-disc set includes the original LP remastered, a couple
early demos and 3 live sessions from the mid-eighties.
Circles (1997) – Includes four bonus tracks from the era, some with different
vocalists
The Cropredy Set (1998) – This 2-disc set includes the live audio plus a DVD video of the band’s performance as well as an
interview with founding member Andy Glass
Over the years the band has changed members any number of times to where today founding
member and guitarist Andy Glass remains as the only original founding member and yet musically the sound of Solstice has remained
pretty constant. The band has shunned any number of musical styles and fads and stayed true to their original vision. The musical
hallmarks include, stirring female vocals, searing lead guitar, eclectic violin work all built around compositions that range anywhere
from 3 to 10 minutes incorporating styles as wide ranging as folk to hints of jazz. Their longer compositions tend to build in intensity
thematically providing grand flourishes of breathtaking symphonics in a manner reminiscent of Yes. Throughout their music is an undercurrent
of acoustic or folk mixed with classical structures bringing to mind the work of Renaissance. And lastly their fluid violin whether
presented in Celtic, folk or jazz themes will immediately summon the musical style of Curved Air to mind.
Put it all together
and you have Solstice. And we are fortunate to have a company like Festival Music release what they call The Definitive Edition series,
where all four discs have been remastered with bonus tracks, in fact three of the CD’s come as 2-disc sets, capturing all sorts of
studio outtakes, live tracks and even some DVD footage of the band’s 1998 performance. Much of the material presented is available
for the first time ever with these remasters. So needless to say Solstice fans will be salivating for these releases and if they haven’t
already acquired them, will soon do so. Those of you unfamiliar with the band would do well to grab a copy of their first CD Silent
Dance and I’m sure you’ll want to work your way through this collection. Kudos to Festival Music for having the foresight of
releasing this music and of course a big thank you to Solstice for making such wonderful music in the first place. This music truly
stands the test of time and sounds just as vibrant, alive and enjoyable today as the day it was first recorded. Let’s hope this is
not the last we hear from Solstice.
