Big Big Train Appreciation

Stunning, brilliant, and English to its very core. Very favourable review will follow in the next couple of weeks.

Listened to English Electric Part One three times last week on Progstreaming and... didn't get it. I mean, it's a solid album, good music but... Best of the year? Not for me. Also, 14th best prog album EVER?? Surely this is momentary hype that will soon fade away - unless I'm really missing something, in which case, please let me know. 

I was rather sceptical to begin with - but the album is indeed excellent. I should imagine it helps to be English to catch all the references and idioms though.

someone_else wrote:   I think this album is a quite a biggie: one of the (at least) two 5-star albums this year has seen until now (the other is echolyn's self-titled album). I'd say English Electric Part One is the 2010's equivalent to Selling England by the Pound. I would not be surprised if this album will keep its high ranking, though I agree that the fanboys are usually the most eager to review or rate an album.

Well, thanks from a grateful record label! Plane Groovy have been thrilled to have the opportunity to put both of these albums out on vinyl and for me they both get better with every listen.

Just got English Electric a week ago and man is it good. Cool mix of Genesis, PFM and maybe KC, but totally unique. Not to mention they used just about every instrument I can think of.

I was really underwhelmed by English Electric at first. Maybe the hype on here got to me and I expected too much. But after many listens I now love it.

I too love BBT. In my usual way, I randomly discovered English Electric Part One,via the prograchives top albums, listened to it. loved it; then within about week invested in Underfall  Yard, From the River to the Sea. And I've now moved on to the pre-David Longdon albums. I love this band, I'm not an old Genesis fan, though did see Gabriel in the early 80s. But I just love BBT, I love their mixture of Englishness, nostalgia, storytelling, as well as clever recycling of old prog and rock/indie from (yes) Genesis to Prefab Sprout to Kate Bush. A wonderful band, can't wait till English Electric Part 2, and I would love to see them play live.

I'm loving EE Pt1 and certainly find it to be the most rewarding listen this year alongside Echolyn's latest.

Edited by sigod - November 22 2012 at 08:51

Slartibartfast wrote: When listening to their most recent albums I can't but help think  if only Genesis had gone it this direction...  But that's OK guys, enjoy your commercial success, we have Big Big Train.  If you're on Facebook, be sure and join the Big Big Train group.  It's rather active.

English Electric is a legitimate masterpiece and deserves every ounce of praise it's gotten.  But The Difference Machine is still my favorite.  I enjoyed the post-rock/VdGG influences more than the Genesis stuff, and I was a little disappointed that they changed their sound so much for The Underfall Yard.  Still a great album, though.