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If - If 2 CD (album) cover

IF 2

If

 

Jazz Rock/Fusion

3.88 | 81 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

mystic fred
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
4 stars If's second album perfectly complements the first, the songwriting generally isn't as strong but includes one of their best songs "Sunday Sad".

The first track "Your City is Falling" is very up-tempo fast jazz playing and includes a great sax solo, and also good keyboards from John Mealing and drums from Dennis Elliot. The slower eight-minute "Sunday Sad" has a spanish guitar style and flute intro, with a haunting vocal from JW Hodkinson. The song builds into a Chicago style jam and features some good keyboard and heavy guitar solos, very reminiscent of early King Crimson dare I say. Not such a sad song at all. The next track the up-tempo "Tarmac T Pirate and the Lonesome Nymphomaniac" features some great interplay between the band members. Another oustanding eight-minute track, the rock orientated "I Couldn't Write and Tell You" ebbs and flows around solid keyboards and drums . The AOR sounding "Shadows and Echoes" changes pace and builds into a much more jazz orientated sound, and includes a very fast jazzy guitar solo. The last track, the odd sounding "A Song for Elsa, Three Days Before Her 25th Birthday", fast jazz alternating with slow bluesy sax solos.

A good follow-up to If 1, released the same year and includes the same high standard of playing.

mystic fred | 4/5 |

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