UNIVERSAL MIGRATOR, PART 1: THE DREAM SEQUENCER

This will not be the album that reconciles progressive rock with electronica, although at times that's what it seems too be trying for. Nearly every song has a sequnced synth intro followed by pompous PINK FLOYD-influenced rock-musical anthems. "The Dream Sequencer" is very like "Shine On You Crazy Diamond", from the shimmering synth fade- in to the bluesy guitar noodling, but without the originators' sense of restraint; "First Man on Earth" starts with some Mello sounds but quickly devolves into a soundtrack to a cheesy 80s sci-fi action flick (think "Flash Gordon" or TOTO's "Dune" OSTs...except that I'd definitely prefer QUEEN's work over this). "Dream Sequencer Reprise" indeed reprises the FLOYD sound, this time more similar to the slow guitar-solo passages from "Meddle" and "Atom Heart Mother". "My House on Mars" follows the blueprint but adds vocal harmonies on the chorus as if to conjure up the gospel refrains of "Dark Side" or "The Final Cut". "2084" is like Andrew Lloyd Webber writing for DEF LEPPARD featuring ANNE MURRAY on vocals- I'll give this album another star because the final whispered vocal line made me giggle. "One Small Step" does a "Welcome to the Machine" turn- too bad they couldn't even manage to get the lyrics to fit half the time. "The Shooting Company" could almost be listenable without the vocals, which sound somewhere between psychedelic Lennon and the PET SHOP BOYS. The album goes on way too long, rather like this review. Usually even when I don't care for a prog band they can inspire my respect for their musical talents; this is pretentious enough in tone to require a little something special musically to back it up, which it never truly delivers. If there was even the subtlest sense of tongue-in-cheek (as GENESIS did so well) I could forgive the ponderousness of these tracks, but to me it's like listening seriously to SPINAL TAP's "Stonehenge". If you are a big fan of overblown rock musicals and/or think that FLOYD sounded just as good after Waters left, you may indeed like this album.