This collection of both Tamburlaine soft-rock/folk-rock albums dates from the time of flares, aviator shades, lyrics like “a whiter shade of pale” (yes, they appropriate that here) and when a woman was “a lady”. Strange days? Indeed. This period – the early Seventies – saw the flourishing of post-Crosby Still and Nash acoustic bands and artists which were long on earnestness and sensitive lyrics, and sometimes hugely popular.
Tamburlaine – the trio of Simon Morris, Steve Robinson and Denis Leong for their debut album Say No More – followed no carved path but rather drew from a few styles: the CSN harmonies (they cover solo Stills' Do for the Others), the romantic folk-medieval narrative tradition which harked back to Anglofolk (Morris' serious The Raven and the Nightingale which heads into bluegrass hoedown territory with cheery fiddle and mandolin), Morris' Saffron Lady (there are lot of “lady” figures here) is pure CSN but has a real sense of tension, and piano, violin and flute colour Leong's quietly delightful Rainy City Memories.
The interesting vagary in all this is the 10 minute-plus prog-folk, quasi-mystical The Flame of Thoriman at the end which pointed in a psychedelic folk direction. It might not have aged well in its lyrical content (although to be fair a lot of people are obsessed by that Tolkien guy, right? *) but is a fine piece of musical muscle-stretching which manages to be pop and rock without compromising their folk ethos. And really soars in its closing overs. From: https://www.elsewhere.co.nz/music/8841/tamburlaine-say-no-more-rebirth-kiwi-pacific/
