The Syn - Syndestructible (2005)

In 1967, Syn issued a couple of obscure British singles containing some quite good mod-psychedelic tracks. Almost 40 years later, they reunited to produce an entire album. Well, sort of reunited – the only original members here are lead singer Steve Nardelli and bassist Chris Squire (the other future Yes man from Syn, guitarist Peter Banks, is not on board). Those expecting anything like those old Syn singles will be disappointed, though those who are interested because of Squire's Yes connection will find the sound has a familiar ring. Most of these are extended pieces – all but a couple last seven minutes or more – that sound rather like Yes in their more pop-oriented stages, though without Jon Anderson's vocals, of course. It's rather like hearing a slightly middle-of-the-road version of Yes, with plenty of multi-sectioned song structures and progressive rock interplay between the instruments. There's also a vague upbeat mystical tone, sounding especially like Yes in their more anthemic moods on the chorus to "The Promise." It's well executed and well recorded. But it should have been credited to Steve Nardelli and Chris Squire, or a different band name than Syn, as the links to the '60s Syn sound are virtually absent.

by Richie Unterberger

The Syn Biography

For a band that only made two singles, Syn are quite well-remembered by British rock collectors, principally because two of their members – guitarist Peter Banks and bassist Chris Squire – eventually surfaced in the first lineup of Yes in 1968. Their two singles, both issued in 1967 in the U.K. on Deram, were pretty solid efforts in their own right. These charted their transition from mod to psychedelic guitar rock, rather in the manner of a much more famous British psychedelic cult band from the same era, Tomorrow (with Steve Howe on guitar). Their first single, "Created By Clive," was a foppish Carnaby Street takeoff that the band disliked; the fine B-side, the hard mod pop tune "Grounded," featured high soul harmonies and interplay between organ and sparkling guitar, and was much more indicative of the band's sensibilities.

Their promise really bloomed on their next and last 45, "14 Hour Technicolour Dream," one of the best obscure British psychedelic singles (indeed one of the best British psychedelic singles by any band). Inspired by the 1967 psychedelic London festival of the same name, it was an exhilarating distillation of the best attributes of British pop-psychedelia – a hook-happy ebullient melody, precise harmonies, unexpected structural twists and turns, Who-like drumming, and tasteful guitar distortion – into a compact package. It wasn't a hit, though (in fact it was only used as the B-side of "Flowerman"), and the band broke up in early 1968. Banks and Squire played in another psychedelic band, Mabel Greer's Toyshop, for a few months before becoming founder-members of Yes. The four songs from the Syn singles have cropped up on numerous compilations of British psych-pop rarities; all four, and a demo of "Flowerman," also appear on Peter Banks' Can I Play You Something?, a compilation of odds and ends from bands that Banks was involved with prior to joining Yes.

by Richie Unterberger