SNOW

CD 1 (56:23): 1. "Made Alive / Overture" (5:32) starts great with just Neal and acoustic guitar but then heavy stuff comes in and it's awful. (8/10) 2. "Stranger In A Strange Land" (4:29) again Neal + acoustic guitar opens this one, sounding country rock. The addition of other layers is slow and gradual. No melodic hooks. (7.5/10) 3. "Long Time Suffering" (6:03) standard rock. (7.5/10) 4. "Welcome To NYC" (3:32) bluesy jazz-rock? Nope. Sorry. Just doesn't work for me. When vocal starts it just feels overly simple and over-the top. (7/10) 5. "Love Beyond Words" (3:24) Neal and acoustic guitar, again. Piano is nice. (8/10) 6. "The 39th Street Blues (I'm Sick)" (4:05) gated distortion power chords? They're no Uriah Heep. (8/10) 7. "Devil's Got My Throat" (7:17) Hall & Oates? Decent vocal until the chorus. Good keyboard work. Still, these guys are not Uriah Heep, no matter what they think. (12.5/15) 8. "Open Wide The Flood Gates" (6:14) nice sound at start. Nice Don Henley song. Great composition, vocal, and instrumental section. The first song on the album that I actually like and admire. My favorite song on the album. (9/10) 9. "Open The Gates Part 2" (3:02) Where are we? Attending a Broadway play? Solid song. Especially the second half. Todd Rundgren-like. (8.5/10) 10. "Solitary Soul" (7:33) a little BAD COMPANY anybody? Mixed with some AMERICA harmonized vocals? Turns out to be a pretty great song. Just the right amount of saccharine. A top three song for me. (13.25/15) 11. "Wind At My Back" (5:12) Neal, his acoustic guitar, and a thumping kick drum and bass. If AMERICA sang with U2. Nice lyric and vocal melody. (8.5/10)

CD 2 (58:09) : 12. "Second Overture" (3:47) kicks off in full prog instrumental mode. Decently complex and intricately performed. (9/10) 13. 2. "4th Of July" (3:11) bleeds over from previous song, until it changes to BEATLES-like "Mr. Kite" or the like?with LOVERBOY musical overtones. (8/10) 14. 3. "I'm The Guy" (4:48) opens with bass, playful bass, joined by squealing guitar and slow, steady drum beat. Neal's vocal joins in sounding very much like a continuation (or replication) of the previous song--except for the solo piano outro. (7.75/10) 15. 4. "Reflection" (2:49) opens with Neal and piano. Jazzy band sound joins in. Nice. (8.75/5) 16. 5. "Carie" (3:06) poppy PHIL COLLINS-like song with Nick's plaintive vocal. Not bad. (8.5/10) 17. 6. "Looking For Answers" (5:17) heavy Country Rock! (7/10) 18. 7. "Freak Boy" (2:12) "Love Is Like Oxygen"! Whoops! Not quite. More like early Metallica (demo "Sandman") with John Lennon vocal. (3.75/5) 19. 8. "All Is Vanity" (4:35) bleeds over from previous song while losing the chunky clunky electric guitar chords and moving straight into PG-era GENESIS territory until 2:15 when there's switch to a heavy ARGENT-like section. (8.5/10) 20. 9. "I'm Dying" (5:09) opens with a very JOHN BONHAM-like drum line with bass, keys, and squealing lead guitar playing in and over the top. Interesting. Very powerful chorus section. (8.75/10) 21. "Freak Boy Part 2" (3:01) weird Tech/Metal attempt for opening. Vocal section improves it. (8.5/10) 22. "Devil's Got My Throat Revisited" (1:55) the bouncy KEN HENSLEY organ is the only highlight. (4/5) 23. "Snow's Night Out" (2:04) horns! Nice little instrumental interlude. (4.25/5) 24. "Ladies And Gentleman, Mr. Ryo Okumoto On The Keyboards" (2:40) sounds like the keys on Todd Rundgren's UTOPIA (only they needed three keyboard players to do the work of Ryo). (4.25/5) 25. "I Will Go" (5:08) very spacious and pretty. Great vocal interplay between Neal and Nick/b vox. Builds to chorus nicely. A top three for me. (9/10) 26. "Made Alive / Wind At My Back" (8:27) Cool STEVEN WILSON feel to the bare-bones opening. Song builds to whole-band crescendo. Fitting for ending of this Rael/Lamb Lies Down on Broadway-like saga. (16.75/20)

Total time 114:32

There is some nice music here--not all proggy and not much new or innovative. If I were into lyrics things might be different but I'm just not into lyrics-driven music--especially in my prog. Still, some of the vocals did draw me in.

B/3.5 stars; a decent contribution of story and songs to Prog World, especially if you like lyrics-driven music.

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