All original material here, and a couple of tracks really have considerable impact, courtesy of guitarist Mick Ralphs – the opening "Thunderbuck Ram" and "Threads of Iron". But the majority of the record is navigated by Ian Hunter's brand of wistful songwriting, and he was struggling to find his footing at this point and time. Still, the record is worth a few spins.

Before punk rock reared its' ugly head to the world the underdogs out there had to console themselves by listening to Mott the Hoople records, or so said the critics. Maybe they had a point, for here was a band slapped together by Guy Stevens – one of the hippest and weirdest dudes in the music business – and he wanted a group that sounded like Bob Dylan playing Rolling Stones music. What else do we really need to say about this record – or the ones that immediately follow it, for that matter? The slightly distinguishable item here is the odd choice of covers (Sonny Bono's "Laugh at Me", for instance) - a trait that would continue, by the way – but otherwise, not much better than decent.

This was much more like the flashy progressive rock made famous (or infamous) by Emerson, Lake & Palmer not long afterwards. The only link to the original sound was Jackson's rather untrained vocal style, which really contrasted next to Emerson's wild virtuoso keyboard runs more than ever. There's more cover material than original material, which should have been an indication of how things were going, I guess. As with the previous record, this stuff can be entertaining, but also stiff and predictable – more so than before. This could be in the running for ultimate quintessential mediocre record, although the method used was anything but.

Very quickly – like, as soon as this album – you begin to realize with The Nice, there comes a point you know they never ever will be a fan-friendly band. That doesn't mean their music or albums suck. By no means. And I moderately enjoyed this record. The first three tracks are freakin' hilarious – very much in the ballpark of the kookier stuff from the debut, but even wackier. Then there's the "Karelia Suite" which goes from very classy to just super into-its-own-world weird over the course of nine minutes. Then you get the title track which is a multi-sectioned suite of music taking up the entire second side. Talk about pretentious! Yet, there is some great music in there! Still, taken as a whole – it's too much too soon. Sorry to use a cliché, but it was definitely true in this case! Fun record, though, if you give it a chance.

The Nice were mainly known as the launching point of the career of madman progressive rock keyboard player Keith Emerson, and also as arguably the world's first bonafide progressive rock group. Strangely enough, I place their debut record in a different category – because it works better as a weird little psychedelic pop record, more than anything else. The big numbers here, like "Rondo" and "War and Peace", foreshadow what the group would eventually become, but it's wild and woolly stuff like "Bonnie K" and "Dawn" which really give this album its' snap. And don't forget, it was the only one with an actual guitar player – Davy O'List, who was of the Hendrix school if you need a primer. Overall, despite some misgivings, these thoughts are worth your time and then some.