When
David Sancious left
Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band to pursue a solo career in 1975, his admirers tended to assume that his own albums would be
Springsteen-like. It was a logical assumption, but an incorrect one. Recorded for Arista in 1978 and reissued on CD by One Way in early 2001,
True Stories by
Sancious and his group Tone doesn't sound anything like
Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ or
Born to Run. This album is pure progressive rock, and it has more in common with
Yes,
Genesis,
ELP,
Pink Floyd, and early
Journey than the Boss. Though
True Stories contains a few instrumentals, most of the tunes feature vocalist Alex Ligertwood (of
Brian Auger's Oblivion Express fame). A bluesy, gritty belter, Ligertwood has some inspired moments on imaginative tracks like "Sound of Love," "Ever the Same," and "Matter of Time." This is, without question, an ambitious album, although it's a different album from the one
Sancious originally had in mind. At first,
Sancious envisioned a collection of four suites, but Arista feared that such a project would be ignored by radio. So
Sancious made
True Stories more radio-friendly, although it was still imaginative and risk-taking. Comparing this album to an LP by
Yes, it might be said that the songs are closer to the radio-friendly "Roundabout" than the extended "The Gates of Delirium." Many of the lyrics have a spiritual quality and call for a nicer, more loving world, although
Sancious avoids sounding preachy on this consistently appealing CD. ~ Alex Henderson