Photo: Malinda Kachejian © 2017
Our Top 10 Solstice Songs defines a band that was formed in the early 1980’s during the second great Progressive Rock movement that took place starting in the early 1980’s and has continued into the 21st Century. Along with bands like Pendragon, Marillion, Dream Theater, IQ and a host of others, bands like Solstice took the best of what band’s like Renaissance, Yes and Genesis were doing in the 1970’s and continued to carry that progressive rock flame in hopes of capturing a new audience of fans. A the same time these bands also grabbed the attention of 1970’s prog heads. While many of the above mentioned band’s released a large output of material, Solstice only issued a handful of albums. However, the band did generate a loyal following who have continued to pay tribute to the band by listing them as one of their favorite progressive rock groups of the so called neo-progressive rock era.
Solstice released their first album in 1984 entitled Silent Dance. It would be close to ten years before the group released another album. In 1993 they released the album New Life. Four years later Circle was released in 1997. After the release of Circle the band released two more studio albums with Spirit in 2010 and Prophecy in 2013.
Progressive Rock music defines the art of soloing and with that comes live albums. Solstice released The Cropredy Set in 2002 and Kindred Spirits in 2011. The band has gone through many lineup changes during their career but the one constant has always been founding member Andy Glass. The man is Solstice. This means no disrespect to the other great musicians who performed with the band over the years and contributed magnificently to the band’s legacy, but in the end without Any Glass there would be no Solstice.
Our Top 10 Solstice Songs list is a look at the music they released across the entire span of the bands career and a small sampling of their great progressive rock music. The band continues to perform in the 2010’s.
# 10 – Brave New World
We start out our Top 10 Solstice Songs list with the track Brave New World. The song was featured on the band’s debut album Silent Dance. The album was released in 1984 on Equinox Records. The album featured musicians, Sandy Leigh on lead vocals, Andy Glass on guitar and backing vocals,
Marc Elton on violin, keyboards and backing vocals, Mark Hawkins on bass, and Martin Wright on drums and percussion.
# 9 – Return Of Spring
The Solstice song “Return of Spring,” was released on the band’s Prophecy album. Prophecy was the last album released by the band as of this writing in 2018. The album was released in 2013. The album featured a plethora if musicians including Emma Brown, Andy Glass, Steve McDaniel, Jenny Newman, Robin Phillips, Pete Hemsley, Johnny McGuire, Sandy Leigh, Marc Elton, Mark Hawkins and Martin Wright.
# 8 – Salú
Continuing with our Top 10 Solstice Songs list we turn to the band’s 1997 album Circles. The Circles CD was released on A New Day Records . The song “Salu,” was the opening track on the album. The musicians featured in the album included,Emma Brown on vocals Andy Glass on guitar, Marc Elton on violin, Craig Sunderland on bass and Clive Bunker on drums. The album also featured special appearances by John McGuire and Heidi Kemp.
# 7 – Sky Path West
The Solstice song “Sky Path West,” appeared on the 2010 album Spirit. It was the band’s first album in thirteen years. The album featured Emma Brown, Andy Glass, Jenny Newman, Steve McDaniel, Robin Phillips and Pete Hemsley.
# 6 – Black Water
The great “Black Water,” track originally appeared on the band’s 2013 Prophecy album. It was the closing track on the record. Listen to the great interplay between lead vocalist Emma Brown and Andy Glass. Progressive Rock music in it’s finest form in the 2010’s.
# 5 – Pathways
Living proof that Solstice could rock with the best of them. Fantastic performance of the great Pathways song. The great track was originally released on the New Life album. We love the live version that Andy Glass has shared with fans. Thanks Andy.
# 4 – Peace
Listen to the great guitar solo by Andy Glass in the middle of “Peace,” and try to tell us that Andy Glass is not one of the most underrated guitar players in classic rock history. The song Peace was originally released on the band’s Silent Dance album.
# 3 – Earthsong
Once again we return to the band’s first album Silent Dance for this top 10 Solstice Songs list. The song “Earthsong,” was released as the second track on the album.
# 2 – Morning Light
The track “Morning Light,” was released on the band’s second album New Life. The album New Life was released in 1993. It had took nine years for the band to release the follow up up to their 1984 Silent Dance debut album.
# 1 – Guardian
We choose the great ten minute track “Guardian,” for one reason alone; Andy Glass! Listen to the amazing guitar work of Andy Glass on this great track and be blown away by the talents of this great guitarist and composer. One of the best Progressive Rock moments in Classic Rock History. The song appeared as the second track on the band’s second album, New Life. The album was released in 1993.
Top 10 Solstice Songs Featuring Andy Glass article published on Classic RockHistory.com© 2023
Classicrockhistory.com claims ownership of all its original content and Intellectual property under United States Copyright laws and those of all other foreign countries. No one person, business, or organization is allowed to re-publish any of our original content anywhere on the web or in print without our permission. All photos used are either public domain Creative Commons photos or licensed officially from Shutterstock under license with ClassicRockHistory.com. All photo credits have been placed at the end of the article. Album Cover Photos are affiliate links and the property of Amazon and are stored on the Amazon server. Any theft of our content will be met with swift legal action against the infringing websites.
Updated November 15, 2023