Accolade - Accolade 2 (Reissue) (1971/2003)

ACCOLADE were a short-lived band (1969-1971) whose musical emphasis was on combining acoustic instrumentation and light jazz/fusion arrangements with bucolic British folk lyrics and sensibilities. They released just two albums and a single in their brief tenure, though managed to tour throughout most of their active existence. The original lineup consisted of woodwind player Brian Cresswell, singer/guitarist Gordon Giltrap, drummer Ian Hoyle and guitarist Don Partridge.

The band's first album included their most lasting contribution to music in the form of a version of American bassist eden ahbez' (aka George Aberle aka Eden Abba) "Nature Boy", a languid and complex folk tale first recorded by NAT KING COLE in the 1940's, and since covered more than seventy times, including by MILES DAVIS, HARRY CONNICK JR, CELINE DION, JAMES BROWN, JOSE FELICIANO, the GATHERING's Annie Haslam, and most recently by the Greek psych band WILL-O-THE WISP. The song has charted as a single five times in that period.

Pool would depart the band after a 1970 tour incident in Sweden involving Partridge, touring briefly with COLOSSEUM before leaving the music business altogether for a career in graphic design (Giltrap had already left by that time and would go on to a lucrative solo career). Guitarist Wizz Jones would join for the band's second album, which was released only in the UK; and they dissolved shortly after its release.

ACCOLADE existed but for a brief period and failed to achieve popular success despite a wealth of individual talent in the group. Their recorded legacy however, earns them a place in the Progarchives and is a collection well worth seeking out,