Beast - Higher and Higher [1970], album review

Beast Tamed

This 2^nd album is a maturer though similar extension of the music established on their first of ’69. Vocal harmonies continue, but also the solo vocal of David Raines is more established, as on the sweet rock ballad of Don’t You think It’s Time? [sounding like an early Mick Hucknall] and then the polar shift to the hard rock grit of Move Mountain (You Got It). Those tender West Coast harmonies are presented in second track Communication where the flute is key again, and even more so on the classical lilt of fourth, the instrumental Migration [presumably influenced by Blood, Sweat & Tear’s eponymous ’68 album and opening flute track Variations on a Theme by Eric Satie]. A more even album then in its sustained musicianship and focus - and to be commended for that - but perhaps less engaging than their debut with its birth pangs also more aurally demanding.