TAKE MY HEAD

Archive, a Crossover Prog band has been around for a while now, but they had quite a rocky start. Darius Keeler and Danny Griffiths started out the band and got a rapper, Roski John, and a female vocalist Roya Arab and put together their first album, a complete trip-hop album called "Londinium" in 1996. It was a decent album considering it was trip-hop, but it was centered around a heavy electronic sound, quite mellow and atmospheric. They broke up soon after, but reformed with two new musicians, Suzanne Wooder as vocalist and Matt Martin on drums. This 2nd album was called "Take My Head" and featured a more pop sound, both upbeat songs and ballads, but with a nice textured sound.

That's what this album is about. Released in 1999, it would prove to be another one-off before the band reformed again and moved to a more progressive sound. But all along, they kept aspects of trip-hop in their sound. "Take My Head" has some very nice tracks on it, especially the beautiful ballads. Suzanne's vocals were top-notch and fit the music perfectly, adding to the texture of the album. There were a few tracks that were a bit corny (like "Woman" and the repetitive, robotic "Take My Head"), but most of them were a nice and fresh sounding pop, for the most part.

There is nothing prog about this album, but it does hint at some of the sounds that the band would explore in years to come. There is a nice upbeat and danceable sound in "You Make Me Feel", an almost rave sounding "Well Known Sinner" that takes a sudden left turn in the middle moving to a slower and darker sound. There is the beautiful and heart-felt ballad "The Pain Gets Worse" that has some amazing layered harmonies and symphonic textures later in the song. "Rest My Head on You" is also a lovely ballad.

Overall, it is an okay album that merits playing once in a while, but it is not progressive in any sense. In fact, the previous album was probably more progressive, even though it is complete trip hop. The turn to progressive music would come with the next album, but this still achieves a 3 star status nevertheless.