Record Reviews Blog

Album, EP and DVD reviews, with an emphasis on the UK progressive rock scene.

Iain Jennings – My Dark Surprise

Posted on June 17, 2013 by Tim Hall

“My Dark Surprise” is the new solo album from Iain Jennings, keyboard player of Mostly Autumn.

Iain released his first solo album “Breathing Space” back in 2005. What started out as a side-project took on a life of its own to become a band in its own right during Iain’s two-year sabbatical with Mostly Autumn, and saw two further well-regarded albums before the band disbanded in 2010. Since then Iain has returned to taking a bigger writing role with Mostly Autumn, making significant contributions to their last album.

“My Dark Surprise” is a concept album with SF storyline exploring themes of identity and reality, featuring Mark Chatterton on lead vocals. Iain composed the music and Mark writing all the lyrics.

The rest of the cast list includes a few familiar names; Gavin Griffiths (Mostly Autumn, Panic Room, Fish) on drums, Stu Fletcher (Halo Blind, The Heather Findlay Band) on bass, and Mostly Autumn’s Liam Davison on guitar. It also features Andy Newlove and Colin Elsworth on guitars, and James Russell on sax.

The whole thing has a song-orientated contemporary feel, with touches of electronica, hard rock, and even some jazz-flavoured dance-pop. All these were found in Iain Jennings’ earlier work, but Mark Chatterton’s vocals give the whole thing a quite different feel and mood. There’s a touch of Peter Gabriel’s delivery in one or two places.

There’s a greater emphasis on songwriting rather than virtuoso keyboard playing. Iain has always had an understated less-is-more style, his playing more part of the foundations of the song, and providing atmospherics, textures and colour rather than flashy soloing. Saying that, of the delicate piano lines on this record are quintessential Iain Jennings, such as on the ballad “That’s Why I Fly”, one of several standouts of the album.

The supporting cast all make strong contributions. Gavin Griffiths and Stu Fletcher make for a very powerful and tight rhythm section, while the guitarists add plenty of crunch, with some great soloing from Liam Davison. James Russell’s sax, though sparingly used, adds another dimension.

The way the album combines some very different styles to make a coherent whole shows Iain’s skills as an arranger; “Change The Shape” is a good example; it switches seamlessly between electronica and full-band hard rock within the same song without showing the joins. “Hiding From My Fears” is stripped right back to a simple piano and vocal ballad, which leads straight into the electro dance-pop of the title track. “Stand Inside The Shadow” starts by mixing electro rhythms and rock guitars and turns into jazz-rock workout driven by a powerful bass riff. The epic “A Choice To Make A Change” and “Nowhere In My Head” with it’s keyboard soloing head more into prog territory.

It all adds up to a very strong album, containing the strengths of Iain Jennings’ earlier work without repeating his past, and Mark Chatterton is a real find as vocalist. Any fans of Iain’s work with Mostly Autumn or Breathing Space ought to buy this without hesitation. But it’s also strongly recommended for anyone with a taste for forward-looking song-orientated contemporary progressive music.

The album is only available direct from Iain Jennings via paypal at breathingspacecd@aol.com (£10 + £3 P&P)

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Shadow of the Sun – Monument

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Tim Hall

When I first encountered Shadow of the Sun supporting The Heather Findlay Band in November 2011, they were something of a work in progress. The new project from Dylan Thompson, former guitarist of The Reasoning laid some solid foundations for the future, but at that time there were some aspects that still needed a bit more work.

Just over a year later, their impressive debut album “Monument” sees a lot of hard work honing the arrangements on the road paying off.

The first thing that strikes you is the in-your-face guitars; the album has a huge guitar sound. The overall feel is more hard rock/metal than prog, although it has it’s atmospheric moments, with some subtle and sparing use of keys. Lee Woodmass and Rhys Jones make a very solid rhythm section. Dylan Thompson’s guitar playing has more emphasis on inventive riffs than on solos, although he does cut loose a few times, most notably on “Crimson Flags”.

Matthew Powell handles the vast majority of the lead vocals, reminiscent of Metallica’s James Hetfield in places. Much of the time Dylan Thomson sings harmonies, though I’d have liked to have heard him sing a bit more lead; when he does he’s very effective, his melodic style complementing Matt’s vocals.

The excellent production with the powerful yet clear sound makes for a strong début, and it will be very interesting to hear how this band develops.

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The Raven That Refused To Sing

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Tim Hall

I wasn’t really surprised when Steve Wilson recently announced that Porcupine Tree would be going on indefinite hiatus. His two solo albums released since that band’s last album “The Incident” have taken a quite different direction, and it’s looking as though PT’s heavy metal Pink Floyd sound isn’t the sort of music SW wants to make at the moment.

“The Raven That Refused To Sing” features the supremely talented band put together to tour the previous solo album “Grace for Drowning”. It includes virtuoso bassist Nick Beggs, a man whose career progression from cheesy pop star to respected prog muso resembles that of Phil Collins in reverse, plus Theo Travis, Marco Minnemann, Guthrie Govan, and Adam Holzman, significantly credited not for “keyboards” but “Fender Rhodes, Hammond organ, piano and Minimoog”. Guthrie Govan plays most of the lead guitar, while Steve Wilson himself plays all the Mellotron which features heavily on every track.

As the follow-up to “Grace for Drowning”, it’s a similar mix of Canterbury-style jazz-rock workouts, grandiose Mellotron sweeps, pastoral sections with layered vocals, and passages of heavy sax-and-Mellotron, with the spirit of 70s King Crimson never far away. But the whole album is far more focussed and concise, a much tighter single album rather than a sprawling double.

The album opens with “Luminol”, with an opening section with jazz-inflected drumming and fluttering flute line recalls Ozric Tentacles before taking off in another direction entirely. The gorgeous “Drive Home” wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a mid-period Porcupine Tree album, and features a great solo from Guthrie Govan. There is some of the dark intensity of Grace For Drowning’s “Raider II” in both “Holy Drinker” and “The Watchmaker”, and early part of the latter also has a touch of Storm Corrosion’s spooky atmospherics. Concluding title track finishes off the album with a glorious soaring Mellotron-drenched ballad.

It’s probably fair to say that this is an album that wears its influences on its sleeve, and just doesn’t care. But it’s all done so well that it doesn’t really matter.

There was a feeling that the last Porcupine Tree album was the sound of Steve Wilson constrained by the expectations of how an album released under Porcupine Tree’s name ought to sound. In contrast, The Raven That Refused to Sing is the sound of Steve Wilson free to follow his muse, backed by a band skilled enough to bring that vision to life.

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Luna Rossa – Sleeping Pills and Lullabies

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Tim Hall

Luna Rossa is an acoustic project from Anne-Marie Helder and Jon Edwards, best known as members and principle writers of the highly acclaimed Swansea-based rock band Panic Room.

The words “acoustic album” tends to suggest rootsy folk-orientated or heavily stripped-down recordings, but “Sleeping Pills and Lullabies” takes a rather different approach. For much of the album the dominant sounds are Jon Edwards’ expressive grand piano and Anne-Marie Helder’s remarkably versatile voice, supported by strings and sparing use of acoustic guitar. Occasionally you’ll also hear some spidery electric guitar, programmed rhythm tracks, some of Anne-Marie’s flute, and all sorts of other strange instruments.

After an initial drone, opener “The Dark Room” starts with a rolling piano figure accompanying the vocal and gradually adds layers to build into the closest thing the album has to a conventional rock song. The following “Heart on my Sleeve” is a spine-tingly beautiful atmospheric ballad with the string section prominent, and I love the moment towards the end where Anne-Marie uses her voice as a solo instrument with a wordless vocal line while the strings take up what had been the piano line. Then “Mad About You” is a complete change of pace, an uptempo love song based around acoustic guitar and percussion.

Aside from the delicate cover of The Magnetic Fields’ “Book of Love”, all songs are co-written by Anne-Marie and Jon, and quite a few of those songs wouldn’t have sounded out of place on a Panic Room record despite the absence of any crunchy guitars or a rock rhythm section. But I’m also reminded of Jon Lord’s post-Deep Purple classical work, especially on the instrumental “Leaving for the Last Time” with some evocative flute from Anne-Marie. The laid-back improvised feel of “Cloud” recalls the mood of Kate Bush’s “50 Words for Snow”. There are moments recalling Massive Attack at their most song-orientated, especially on the powerful closer “Gasp”, with it’s dramatic piano chords and multi-tracked backing vocal that some might recognise as the intro tape used in Panic Room’s most recent tour.

It’s an extremely varied record; rich and layered in places, sparse and minimalist in others, experimental in some ways yet anchored in melodies that get stuck in your head after just a few listens. This a work that’s pointless even to try and pigeonhole, It’s not really a rock album as such, certainly not prog-rock in the traditional sense, yet with its elements of classical music and touches of electronica it’s progressive in the original meaning of the word. The quality of the songwriting combined with Anne-Marie’s ever amazing voice should appeal strongly to Panic Room’s existing fans, but I can also see this record also having a far wider crossover appeal.

For more information, including how to pre-order the album, visit the Luna Rossa website at www.lunarossa.co

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Ebony Tower – The Magic Box Pt 1

Posted on April 9, 2013 by Tim Hall

Ebony tower have existed in some shape or form for well over a decade. The band made a strong impression at the 2011 Cambridge Rock Festival with an interestingly varied sound, including electric violin, and frontwoman Zanda King’s strong stage presence. With earlier recordings featuring a previous singer, “The Magic Box Pt 1″ is the band’s first release with Zanda King on vocals.

Despite their occasional use of the term “prog” in promotion, they don’t really go in for grandiose epics. The EP is made up of short punchy songs with little in the way of extended soloing; all four numbers clock in at around the four-and-a-half minute mark, but they still manage to pack plenty of music in a short space. There are a lot of musical influences on display; some classic rock with a strong psychedelic flavour mixed in with a bit of garage-style rock’n'roll. Recorded in Real World studios, the record has a raw, live-sounding in-your-face feel, especially on the rockier numbers.

The four songs are individually quite different, starting with the opening rocker “The Passing” based around a serpentine guitar riff, and continuing with the shimmering but sinister “The Labyrinth”. “LSD” has a raw, almost punky feel, and the closing “The Vision” has a summery West Coast vibe with some delightfully atmospheric organ. Despite the variety, when added together they still make for a coherent sounding whole.

Throughout the record, Zanda King demonstrates both a strong voice and a very feisty rock and roll attitude. Instrumentally Wilson McQueen’s guitar is the dominant sound; his playing emphasises inventive riffs rather than flashy soloing. The record might have benefited from greater use of Skye Sheridan’s electric violin. It’s particularly effective weaving around the guitar line in “The Passing” but elsewhere it’s used more for colour and isn’t always that prominent in the mix.

Ebony Tower plan to release a full-length album later in the year, and on the basis of this EP, it should be well worth waiting for. The EP has a physical release on May 6th, but you can hear it now at http://www.reverbnation.com/ebonytower.

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Threshold – March of Progress

Posted on February 16, 2013 by Tim Hall

Over a twenty-plus year career Threshold have established themselves as one of Britain’s premier prog-metal bands; a sort of British version of Dream Theater, only with a greater emphasis on solid songwriting rather than technical showboating. The band has changed lineups over the years with guitarist Karl Groom and keyboard player Richard West the only constant members, although the rhythm section of Johanne James and Steve Anderson have now been in the band for many years.

Their ninth studio album “March of Progress”, is the first since the return of the band’s original singer Damien Wilson in 2007, replacing Andrew “Mac” McDermott who sadly died in 2011. It also sees the band back to a six-piece twin-guitar linuep with the addition Pete Marten. After the attempt at something slightly different with the rawer production of 2007′s “Dead Reckoning”, this new release sees the band revert to the more polished approach of earlier albums.

All the Threshold ingredients are here; the lengthy and complex song structures, the big anthemic choruses, the soaring solos and, as ever, immaculate playing. Damien Wilson’s voice has an impressive power and range, and sometimes it’s a relief to hear some old-style ‘proper singing’ on a metal record. There is perhaps slightly more emphasis on atmospherics on this record, but it’s still balanced by plenty of metallic riffery, and quite a few vocal hooks get stuck in your head. There are big epics such as the closing “The Rubicon”, and the obligatory power-ballad in “That’s Why We Came”. Though song titles like “Return of the Though Police” and “Liberty, Complacency, Dependency” imply a political line, the lyrics are far more thought-provoking than preachy.

Threshold certainly have a clearly identifiable sound, which is both their greatest strength and their greatest weakness. There quality is consistent throughout, no filler, but neither is there much that we haven’t heard on previous Threshold albums, and there’s a feeling that we’ve heard a lot of it before. When other bands are taking progressive metal in new and more challenging directions, they leave Threshold’s old-school style perhaps sounding a little dated by comparison.

On the other hand, Threshold are still very, very good at what they do. If you’ve liked their previous albums, there’s a lot to like about this one too, and after a long absence a new album is very welcome indeed. If you’re a Threshold fan, you probably have this album already. And if you’re completely unfamiliar with their music, this is as good a place to start as any.

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Rob Cottingham – Captain Blue

Posted on January 12, 2013 by Tim Hall

Captain Blue is the second solo album by keyboard player and vocalist Rob Cottingham, best known as a member of Touchstone. Rob has described that album as “a cross-genre-ational album covering the themes of time, self-realisation, death – and not taking yourself too seriously“. It’s a concept album, telling the tale of the mysterious Captain Blue.

The album also features the delightfully named Dr Goatius Foot on bass, Touchstone’s Adam Hodgson on guitars, Gary O’Toole on drums, Heather Findlay on vocals, and on one track, the guitar legend Steve Hackett. While all of these make great contributions, the emphasis is on Rob’s own vocals and keys.

It begins with the dramatic voice of Shane Rimmer, the voice of Thunderbirds’ Scott Tracey, on the epic spoken word “Condemnation“, which reinforces the Gerry Anderson feel of the whole album.

Parts of the album sound far lighter version of Touchstone, whether it’s rockier up-tempo numbers or lush ballads, with the dual male-female harmony lead vocals recalling that band’s early years when Rob handled a greater proportion of the vocals. In a couple of places it veers into dance-pop territory, and I can easily imagine a club remix of “The Drowning Man“. At times it strips right down delicate to piano and vocals. It’s all very song-orientated and highly melodic throughout, made up of of shorter numbers rather than sprawling epics, with the occasional instrumental bridge piece, and the instrumentation is more about atmospherics and colour rather than pyrotechnics. Although Rob does indulge in a keytar solo at one point. The production is immaculate, with a clear and crisp yet rich sound.

Rob Cottingham has taken a supporting role as a vocalist in Touchstone of late, but here he sings the majority of the lead vocals, with a voice that’s been compared with the clean vocals of Opeth’s Mikael Åkerfeldt. Heather Findlay takes more of a supporting role here, adding harmonies as well as duets with Rob, only taking sole lead on one or two songs. Her contributions are sublime, with some ethereal yet sensual performances that are as good as anything she’s ever done.

It’s a consistently strong record with little in the way of filler despite a 70 minute running time. High points include “Only Time Will Tell” with so many multi-tracked harmony vocals it sounds like the Mellotron of early King Crimson. It almost makes me wonder if Heather took a trip back in time in Captain Blue’s timeship to lay down the original “choir” settings for the first Mellotron. The album closes with the big wall of sound epic “Soaring to the Sun” with Steve Hackett on guitar, before The Magic Roundabout’s Zeberdee tells us it’s “time for bed”.

This is an impressive piece of work that grows on repeated listens. Any fan of either Touchstone’s music or of Heather Findlay’s vocals ought to love this. But so should anyone that likes atmospheric and melodic rock, written and performed by real musicians and real singers.

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2012 Album of the Year

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Tim Hall

And finally we get to the album of the year. I can’t really imagine this one’s going to be much of a surprise for most regular readers – I’ve written about this album a lot over the past year, and even interviewed the band for Trebuchet Magazine.

Panic Room – SKIN

In a year that’s seen the release of many great albums, there is still one that manages to stand out, and that’s the third album by Swansea’s Panic Room.

Their 2008 début was the sound of five supremely talented musicians searching for a new collective musical direction. The second was the sound of a band with a clear vision of what they wanted to be. With SKIN, they’ve consolidated that vision and taken it to another level. With the combination of Anne-Marie Helder’s award-winning vocals, and the amazing vituosity of the band, the result is a an ambitious cinematic work that defies simplistic genre pigeonholing. It’s a hugely varied record, with songs ranging from shimmering jazz and heartfelt stripped-down ballads to hard rock numbers that sound like Kate Bush fronting Led Zeppelin.

For years, Panic Room have been one of the British rock scene’s best-kept secrets. With “Skin”, their strongest and most assured album to date, they’ve delivered a record that deserves to be heard by a far wider audience.

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2012 – A few more records of note

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Tim Hall

I decided to restrict my best-of-2012 list to full-length studio albums of new material with a 2012 retail release date. But there are a few great records that fall outside that definition, and would be difficult to place in any kind of ranking. But they’re all too good not to give a mention, so here they are.

The Heather Findlay Band – Songs From The Old Kitchen

A delightful album of acoustic reworkings of Heather’s songs from Mostly Autumn, Odin Dragonfly and more recent solo work, with the band featuring the now-departed Dave Kilminster and Steve Vantsis. The organic chilled-out arrangements are a very good match for the natural warmth of her voice, making this perhaps the best record she’s made since going solo.

Karnataka – New Light, Live in Concert

Live album (also an excellent DVD) capturing the band on their first tour with new vocalist Hayley Griffiths, fronting the short-lived six-piece lineup with multi-instrumentalist Colin Mold, whose violin playing enhanced the Celtic side of their music. Aside from Hayley’s imaginative re-interpretation of old favourites, this record is also a showcase for Enrico Pinna’s phenomenal guitar playing.

Crimson Sky - DawnCrimson Sky – Dawn

Excellent four-track EP from the new lineup of Crimson Sky with Jane Setter and Moray McDonald, with two brand new songs and two reworked older numbers. As with their previous work, it’s an intriguing blend of progressive rock and 80s-style new-wave, and benefits from a far more polished production than earlier recordings.

Twelfth Night Live and Let Live - Album CoverTwelfth Night – Live and Let Live

The classic and long out-of-print single LP-length album from the seminal 80s neo-proggers, reissued and expanded into a two-hour double-CD capturing the entire two-hour show, which must have been a painstaking labour-of-love to put together.

Rob Cottingham – Captain Blue

One of those records where the pre-orders shipped in December, although the retail release isn’t until the new year There will be a full review of this forthcoming, but let’s just say this is a good one. Will it make the 2013 end-of-year list? Time will tell on that…

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2012 Albums of the Year – Part Three

Posted on December 17, 2012 by Tim Hall

Counting down from Five to Two, we get to the year’s Superb releases. In many previous years any of these might have been a strong candidate for my album of the year. Indeed, the previous album by one of these bands was my album of that year, even though the album listed below is the stronger album. That’s how good a year it’s been. Again, the order is simply alphabetical; these albums are so good it’s next to impossible to rank them into any kind of order.

Big Big Train – English Electric Part One

With music reminiscent of “Wind and Wuthering” era Genesis with hints of Barclay James Harvest and Gentle Giant and lyrics about the industrial revolution, this is a quintessentially English record steeped in the nation’s history and landscapes. With varied instrumentation including strings and brass, it transcends obvious influences and evokes the spirit of 70s pastoral progressive rock far more strongly than any 80s style neo-prog band can hope to.

Mostly Autumn – The Ghost Moon Orchestra

Olivia Sparnenn finds her voice on her second studio album since taking over as the band’s lead vocalist, and makes her mark with some soaring leads that make it clear just why she was shortlisted for the gig with Nightwish. With their signature guitar-driven celtic-tinged classic rock on one side, and a more modern symphonic metal feel on the other, the result is a strong record with one foot in the past and one in the future. It delivers a powerful riposte to those who wrote the band off a couple of years ago.

Riversea – Out Of The Ancient World

Years in the making, the collaboration between singer-songwriter Marc Atkinson and keyboard player Brendan Eyre along with an all-star cast of guest musicians resulted in one of the progressive rock surprises of the year. Marc Atkinson’s emotive vocals recall Marillion’s Steve Hogarth and the keyboard-led arrangements range from simple piano accompaniments to moments of heavy symphonic rock. An album that proved to be well worth the wait.

Stolen Earth – A Far Cry From Home

The band that grew out of the short-lived final incarnation of Breathing Space get off to a very strong start with their début album. The combination of Heidi Widdop’s soulful vocals and Adam Dawson’s effects-laden guitar gives a rich sound based around big wall-of-sound rock ballads. There’s a hint of early Mostly Autumn in the Floydian atmospherics, especially with Heidi’s low whistle, but this is a band with their own sound and their own identity. It will be very interesting to see how they progress from here.

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