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CREDO/JOHN YOUNG
Stripes Bar, Brentford FC, 26 November 2005

John Young despite having a very bad bout of flu still performed and it was interesting to see his songs done in a solo setting as previously I had only seen the full band shows.

John Young has a very melodic voice (he doesn't do angry vocals) which suited tracks like 'Significance' and 'When I Was Young' superbly. He did a long progressive number 'Unknown Soldier' to keep the prog rock fans in the audience happy and closed the set with the bombastic instrumental 'Kings'.

He is well worth seeing live if you get the chance and I would point you in the direction of his website for more. A very satisfying and enjoyable set. Young's tunes are destined for Radio 2 daytime airplay as fans of Peter Gabriel and Sting would love these tunes if they ever got the chance to hear them.

Credo were launching their rather good new album 'Rhetoric' - a mere eleven years after their debut album. Starting the set was the superb 'The Game' with a real 'air keybaords' intro, quickly followed up by 'Turn The Gun'. Singer Mark Colton kept up cheeky and enjoyable between song banter but thankfully refrained from the Gary Glitter joke he knew!

The addition of keyboards player Mike Varty and drummer Martin Meads has certainly breathed a new passion into the band (the short drum solo was a real Carl Palmer moment - classic!). 'The Letter' and 'Sweet Scarlet Whisper' pleased the older fans present as they came from the band's debut album.

'Skin Trade' was another highlight showing the band can successfully transfer the studio sound into the live environment something many prog rock bands fail to do.

The band played a very tight set and they are well worth seeing live - they plan some further UK dates early next year. Excellent progressive rock with a distinct nod to the 70's and Fish era Marillion - sheer class.

Review: Jason Ritchie