Universal Radio 1974 Album

Dragon

Dragon's debut has been pigeonholed as a second or third-rate prog-rock product, but that misses the mark. Essentially, they melded Traffic's pastoral art-rock approach with classier Procol Harum-style pop and progressive instincts, throwing in a healthy dose of their own quirky personality and character. There's only six songs but it doesn't ever feel like it drags (like a lot of other prog rock records) as even at this early point in their career these savvy-before-their-time New Zealanders are fairly good with a pop hook ("Going Slow"). They have no qualms jamming out on longer passages either, as the dual suite of "Weetbix" followed by "Graves" shows. Solid performance overall.