PICTURE

I discovered this album at the time of release while I was heading London for a ''Musical Box'' concert at the Royal Albert Hall together with my brother. Wen I was aware of the band members, there was no question that I would attend the gig at the London Astoria.

The guys were pretty enthusiasts on stage and needless to say that they are bloody skilled. Sometimes they sounded a bit hardish and John Mitchell might not be the best vocalist on earth, but the music they play is rather fresh yet accessible and very pleasant.

The highlight is of course the great opener: ''Losers Day Parade''. It holds a lot of what the neo-prog genre has to offer: a hard attack, great rhythmic, decent vocals (even if they remind me of the Marillion Mark II).

It is true to say that there are no great tunes available on this album. The experience of effectively see those guys was far much interesting than this studio work. It is easily understandable when you get them in front of your eyes. But the story is of course different when you ''only'' listen to their record which features the good (as I have already mentioned) and the worse (''Letting Go'').

Still, any neo-prog lover should be pleased with this work. There are fine melodies available, great guitar breaks of course (''Leave a Light On'') which are of course 200% neo prog oriented. To have seen this band turned into the prog related genre is an extreme surprise. I will definitely try and bring them into the genre they ought to be.

Apart of this discussion, it is true to say that there are some flaws in here. A song as ''Swimming in Women'' is just a filler IMO. And it is not the only one available. It should be difficult of course when you get a bunch of those guys together to raise the level of an album as high as each of them could have doe in their according band (with the exception of Marillion II of course).

It is obvious that when you are listening to such a good track as ''People'', the heresy of having this band catalogued as prog related is quite questionable, isn't it? Even if there are some average tracks as ''All You See''. Vocals overall remind me a lot of Ray Wilson ones on ''Calling All Stations'' and even if a track as ''Picture'' sounds popish, it holds some fine melodic lines and a catchy beat.

This album might well be a deception for some reviewers. Maybe that they were expecting too much of this band (or group of persons). Still, this work should please any neo-prog lover. Don't try to find the closest relation (Marillion Mark II, Arena, PT or It Bites) because it is a useless exercise.

This is just a good neo-prog album performed by skilled artists who wanted to have some fun playing together. Three stars.