MANMADE

this is ruphus`s swan song, and it features Gudny Aspaas again on lead vocals, and that very refreshing after two albums with Sylvi who sang a bit strained and uptight in places, Gudny is smooth and chilled and delivers very strong vocals here.

This album is more in the jazz/fusion vein than progressive rock, but there are alot of progressive licks and turns in it, except for a couple of the songs.

The opener is the absolute highpoint on the album, very soft and smooth jazz with influences from all around the world, very exotic, they were really popular in germany these days, and wish they would release a live album with ruphus anytime, back to the first song, the guitar solo is delicious and very well thought out, while the drums and bass grooves along in a very refreshing way, i cant tell you how good this song actually is you have to hear it yourself (fans of cantenbury prog will enjoy this song)

The second song snowy day is a ballad which is a bit slow and long, but it is a nice tune all over, but sadly the worst song on the album, the rest of the album have a soft feel and it would be intresting to hear what ruphus could have done after this.

Overall worth getting, but gt "let your light shine" before purchasing any other ruphus cd`s / lp`s (only the first 3 are released on cd as far as i know, i hope they will re release all of ruphus albums, maybe with bonus tracks? , by the way the "coloured Dreams" cd features a whole disc with demos and live stuff, excellent stuff)