MARINE MENAGERIE

Ain Soph's third album consists mostly of re-recorded versions of tunes from the band's early days - written and developed during the late 70s -, plus an original version of 'Variations on a Theme by Brian Smith', whose first official version had appeared in the "Story of Mysterious Forest" album. This original version is somewhat rougher, with its varied musical motifs less developed, and a harder edge on the guitar parts. Speaking of the general tendency of "Marine Menagerie" as a whole, the band's approach is focused on giving more room to the melodic progressive stuff (a-la Camel), which means that the jazz stuff is a bit decreased, although still maintaining a strong presence in the band's sound and style. The album kicks off with a brief, ethereal display of guitar picks on the higher notes, appropriately titled 'Wind & Water', which then gives way to the beautiful, melancholic 'Flooded by the Sun', which sounds to me very much inspired by "Moon Madness"-era Camel. Things remain the same with the following namesake track, if only developed a bit further thanks to its longer extension. With the excellent piano solo 'Little Pieces Part 3' (keyboardist Fujikawa seems to be offering a tribute to the memory of Alan Gowen) and the aforementioned 'Variations' the Canterbury thing that Ain Soph so unabashedly loves returns to the fore. The same Canterbury thing persists on the last two suites, combining itself fluidly with the Camel- inspired symphonic majesty. 'Ride on a Camel' and 'Metronome 7/8' (the latter, including a quotation from a Caravan's theme from their '74 live album) contain your usual prog pomp and circumstance, full of clever musical ideas, mood and tempo shifts, impeccable performances in both the alternate guitar/synth solos and the solid rhythm section: all of these elements are fully integrated with good taste and exquisite class, which allows the band not to lose sight of the musical motifs, always keeping the soloing in its right place. Though this album doesn't impress me as much as their previous two, it is definitely an excellent opus - 4 stars.

When a band takes 5 years to record a bad album, they're either lazy or just don't have much to offer. Ain Soph appears to suffer from both of these problems , having released just 2 albums in the decade of their existence prior to "Marine Menagerie" ; moreover, neither of these albums were particularly spectacular, although "Hat and Field" did feature considerable improvement over their yawn- inducing debut. However, "Marine Menagerie" should put you right back to sleep, as it confirms Ain Soph's tendency to write the most boring music imaginable. What's more, the last 3 compositions (and possibly others) , which take up most of the album, are old material ( "Variations..." is apparently featured in it's original, pre-"Story of Mysterious Forest" recording , although the other 2 appear to have been re-done). What further proof of a creative crisis would you need?

Anyway, there are a couple of semi-positive things to be said about "Marine Menagerie" : "Little pieces part 3" is the best in the series, "Ride on a Camel" has some neat slide guitar licks from Yozox Yamamoto, and I also find the original version of "Variations..." presented here to be better than the one on "Story..." : the first half is practically unrecognizable, featuring an intense approach with a fast, strong beat and totally different keyboard and guitar work,which I find far better than the clumsy and atrociously boring ideas on the other version; then comes the jazz soloing section - the "Story" version wins this time, as it features more consistent and less random improvisation, but overall I still prefer the one on "Marine Menagerie". Unfortunately, all that stuff is good only by Ain Soph standarts, and "Marine Menagerie remains a completely uneventful experience. Try "Hat and Field" if you're into Canterbury, but steer clear of this one.

Competent Japanese soft fusion band's third album is kind of compilation. Almost every song there was released before on early band's albums, but for this album all compositions were re-arranged and re-recorded.

Music there is light, well balanced and strongly influenced by Camel sound. Ain Soph always openly showed their influences (their previous albums were named "Hat And Field" and "Ride On A Camel"), and there they put all things together. If Canterbury (or "Hatfield and North") influence is not so obvious, melodic soft symphonic prog (or "Camel") is presented there in whole. You can even find there some heavier guitar soloing (in few places)!

Will you like this music or not mostly depends on your taste. Melodic, professionally played ,good arranged, symphonic fusion of this album is a pleasant listening. Just don't expect too much of originality or new ideas (better don't expect at all). Just enjoy the music.

My rating - 3+.