Galliard were in on the ground floor of the British progressive rock movement, releasing their debut album,
Strange Pleasure, in 1969 and mixing jazz, rock, folk, and psychedelic influences. The following year,
New Dawn pretty much picked up where its predecessor left off, with one key exception. The band had initially featured two wind players,
Dave Caswell and
John Smith; though
Smith was absent from
New Dawn, a whole brace of additional horn players had been brought in to augment the sound. This was during the period when the likes of
Chicago and
Blood, Sweat & Tears (and their British equivalents) were starting out, and brass-rock was all the rage. That's not to suggest that
Galliard were trying to ride the brass-rock gravy train -- their work is too skilled and varied for that -- but simply that they were right in time for the Zeitgeist. Some cuts, like "New Dawn Breaking" and "Open Up Your Mind," make full use of the horn section, coming off like a cross between early Chicago and jazzy U.K. prog rockers
Colosseum, but that's far from the dominant sound on this eclectic outing. Lead guitarist
Richard Pannell's sitar work on "Ask for Nothing" contributes to a swirling Eastern atmosphere that seems soaked in a kind of psychedelic afterglow from the late ‘60s. "Winter -- Spring -- Summer" is an ambitious suite full of shifting dynamics and settings, while the gentle, acoustic-based "And Smile Again" echoes
Jethro Tull or the more folk-oriented moments of
Traffic. "Premonition" is a straight-up jazz-rock instrumental pushed along by
Tommy Thomas' congas, where
Pannell and the horns get to stretch out a bit. Closing track "In Your Mind's Eyes" (sic) opens with a couple of minutes of atmospheric, otherworldly tones before bringing things home with a blast of bold-faced, brass-filled prog rock. The striking thing is just how good
Galliard were at all of the varied styles they attempt on
New Dawn, but sadly, it was to be their last album.