Glyder Yesterday Today & Tomorrow Review by Gary Hill
This album is Glyder’s third, but I’d never heard these guys before. I’ll have to catch up on their first two discs, because this is great modern music in the style of classic rock. You’ll likely make out things like Thin Lizzy, Cheap Trick, Sweet and more. But you’ll also hear bits of progressive rock. In fact, I’d say that the last three songs are progressive rock and, to my ear, are a three song suite. If the whole disc was like those three I’d put it under prog. As it is, though, it’s just some great rock music that has elements of metal, classic rock, pop and prog.
This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2010 Volume 4 at lulu.com/strangesound.
Track by Track Review
That Line
This comes in with a keyboard section that feels like the band could turn in a progressive rock piece. From there, though, we get some killer hard rock (sort of like the Cult) with classic metal influences. It’s catchy and both new and familiar. There’s a smoking guitar solo on this track.
Knockout Starting with a short sound clip, this fires out in some serious riff driven metal. It’s another scorcher, but the chorus is quite catchy with a classic rock feeling (think Sweet or even Asia).
Jack Strong
The riff that drives this is even meaner. For my money, this feels like a combination of Thin Lizzy, Motorhead and Sweet. It’s a real killer.
Innocent Eyes There is a metal edge to this, but really it reminds me a lot of Asia. There are several changes on this that are very prog-like and the keyboard solo is cool.
Make A Change Here’s another that’s very metal in nature. This is a fiery cut with a great riff driven arrangement.
The Bitter End This fiery track is very metal, yet there is a lot of that Sweet like pop rock texture and there’s some prog in the mix, too. It’s a cool cut. I can even make out some power pop here.
Back To The Water There’s a lot more of a classic pop rock element here, and I’d say this most reminds me of something from Mott the Hoople.
One Of Us Combine a metal pop rock motif with Asia and you’ll have a good idea of what this sounds like. There’s some power pop in the mix, too.
Always The Loser This hard rocker feels like it could have come out of the 1970’s. It’s catchy and has elements of Uriah Heep, Thin Lizzy and other staples of the 1970’s hard rock.
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow This is a mellower rocker that has a lot of the elements of the rest of the disc, but I also make out some Pink Floyd in this mix. It’s one of my favorite cuts on show here and is quite an intriguing piece of music. You might also make out some Beatles and, I suppose, some Extreme.
Time To Fly The first bonus track on the set, this combines many of the elements of the rest of the disc in a melodic track that is really progressive rock. It’s a soaring, expansive number that’s one of the best on show here.
All You've Done Continuing with the bonus tracks, this comes in with an atmospheric treatment that reminds me of something from the second Captain Beyond disc. It works out from there into a melodic rocker. As it works out it becomes obvious that this is another track that could qualify as progressive rock. It works through a number of variants and alterations.
Elverstown The final tune on the set is also the final bonus track. It is an instrumental piece that ties up the previous numbers nicely.
