Allmusic is not particularly impressed with Homer; their short article on the band includes this comment: “The LP was an uncertain mix of multi-sectioned songs (sometimes with Mellotron) that had similarities to hard rock-based early British progressive rock, with touches of folk-rock and country-rock. Though played and arranged with confidence, it didn’t have material of high-enough quality to make it one of the better rarities of its type.” The original LP received a respectable 3 stars (out of 5), while the overview CD of their complete recordings that I have, Homer is not reviewed.
By contrast, the people at Gear Fab Records – one of the better reissue record companies – are quite enthusiastic about Homer; Galen Niles was brought in to write the liner notes for the 2012 CD, Homer. (The record company name comes from two Beatles-era expressions for “cool”; both are featured in the background singing on “All Those Years Ago”, the 1981 George Harrison song honoring recently assassinated John Lennon and also featuring the other two living Beatles in the band). Roger Maglio at Gear Fab worked for 10 years to bring the Homer music to CD; he first heard their songs in 2002 on an “unauthorized Italian release”: “I was amazed that their level of professionalism could be coupled with such a rawness that just seemed to work.” Nor is that the only coupling that he noted: Maglio called their sound “progressive rural rock”, and progressive rock with a rural flavor is so rare and improbable that I am hard pressed to think of another example.
(April 2014)
