*. Changes .* (Album + Ep)

Album: Fire of Life (1996)
Ep: Legends (1998)(6 Track's)
Genre: Prog Folk (Contemporary Folk/Acoustic)  /  USA

Changes is the folk outfit formed by R.N. Taylor and Nicholas Tesluk in 1969. The vintage recordings found on Fire of Life, were exhumed by R.N. Taylor at the behest of Michael Moynihan (of Blood Axis) and finally released on Cthulhu Records in 1997. It's long out-of-print but thankfully Albin Julius of Der Blutharsch, so impressed with these recordings saw fit to reissue them on his Hau Ruck label. "It is fucking great...and I'm so happy and proud that this record is on HauRucK", he told me. Fire of Life features all the existing tapes of Changes dating from the period 1969-1974 rediscovered and dusted down to suit the digital format. This dark and, at times, almost mediaeval ballads, predating Death In June and Sol Invictus by over two decades, for once, truly deserves the name "apocalyptic folk". A far cry from sixties hippie idealism, these songs sound at times like Simon and Garfunkel reared on a diet of Nietzsche, Spengler and Goethe books. In the accompanying booklet R.N. Taylor reflects on each of the songs with lyrics covering lost love, existentialism and the death of the West. But Fire of Life is more than a document of curiosity value, as even though the music recalls the folk groups of the sixties the sentiments are timeless and perhaps even more relevant today. The history of Changes has been closely entwined with the notorious religious group The Process, Church of the Final Judgement, as Changes played frequently in Process coffeehouses. Aside from this association the material on Fire of Life deserves to be recognised in its own right as it is poetic, poignant and captures the zeitgeist of today. Fire of Life is a must-have and don't forget there's an ultra-limited vinyl issue too. Review by "Compulsion online" (www.compulsiononline.com).

RATING:  8.25 / 10   **MARVELLOUS**

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