Abacus - 1972 - Everything You Need

Abacus
1972 
Everything You Need

01. Anyway We Can
02. Slide Away
03. Ivan Hood The White Knight
04. Thing We Do
05. Everything You Need
06. What A Day
07. Paranoia Agency
08. Hold Up The Flag
09. Don't Worry
10. Everything You Need


- Chris Williams / vocals, acoustic guitar
- Hans Rolf Schade / guitar, vocals, moog
- Christoph Perutzky / piano, organ, synth
- Klaus Kohlhase / bass
- Konstantin H Bommerius / drums


None of Abacus' classic Polydor/Zebra-period albums is what I'd call "bad", but this one is pretty dull. At best, it's mediocre.
The five-part suite that covers the B-side is a bit of a canard, as it's really just five discrete songs strung together and "packaged" as a single unit. I doubt most proggers would be fooled. The quirky "Paranoia Agency" is easily the high point.
Elsewhere, "Ivan Hood The White Knight" is probably the thing that most resembles prog here, rather like a (very) peripheral Jethro Tull song perhaps. And "Things We Do" does have a winsome melody and a nice 70's Kinks-ish air about it.
Really, though, of the four 70's Abacus discs, this is easily the least essential. Get it only after you already have the other three.