A DAY IN THE LIFE OF A UNIVERSAL WANDERER

I recently just found that this album is now available on Itunes a few weeks early, so curiosity getting the better of me (and being faced with a long train journey) I decided to give it a download digitally rather than wait for the CD at the end of the month.

I enjoyed the previous two releases from these guys quite a bit and was quite looking forward to this one... I was not dissapointed but I was also rather suprised.

There's still an element of the floydian soundscapes that were so appealing, but there is definitely a more modern space-rock feel to this album. The Sax & flutes add a richness to the sound and give it an almost jazz-feel in places, non more so on the second track however with the addition of guest female vocals on a number of the tracks there is most certainly a new vibe on here that will take a while to digest.

A lot of the tracks on offer are big on impact and they seem to have addressed some of the issues with vocals as there are some meaty hooks to be found within many of the tracks (my personal favourite being Orphans of the sky).

In contrast, the folkier side of Gandalf's Fist makes a welcome return. Being a big 'Tull fan I really enjoyed some of the folkier tracks from their first album and was slightly disappointed when they departed from this on last years follow-up. No such problems here though as the penultamate track sounds something akin to Led Zep's battle of evermore with a sci-fi twist. Good stuff.

The only downside for me was the track "north of the wall" - I already heard the acoustic version on their website and not sure if the full band version detracts or adds to the song... either way it seems to be WAY too short for an album track!

All in all this is a great release, it's interesting and dynamic to my ears - some people will dislike the more diverse sections, such as the piano ballad "Somewhere beyond the stars" (Which has an amazing female vocal by the way!)... but that's just me, I albums to be intersting, diverse and a journey - and that's what the latest from the fist is - a journey... narrated by someone who sounds *uncannily* like Morgan freeman!

Maybe old MF is GF fan afterall. 8.5/10