OFFICIAL LIVE BOOTLEG: JERSEY TOMATO

You can download this album in MP3 format from the Echolyn web site. When I discovered this, I thought: why not? and downloaded it. I wasn't sure what I was getting as I had not heard much by them before and I had mixed feelings about what I had heard.

So, on the whole, this album was a pleasant surprise. I can see where the comparisons with Gentle Giant come from, even though I'm not a great fan of that outfit. The music is very varied and skips signatures at will. This makes for uneasy listening if you are not already acquainted with this sort of prog-jazz-rock-funk-fusion thang. But as a performance this is very, very good.

For me the stand out tracks are "As The World", "Suffocating The Bloom" and "Sweet Thing". The 50-minute sprawl of "Mei" has some fine moments but I don't think I would have wanted to listen through it live on the day.

You cannot fault these guys musically as their playing at the top of their game on this release. But for most they will be an acquired taste. I think it's fair to say that after a couple of listens, I've done just that so I'm now on the look out for a copy of "As The World" which is supposed to be their finest hour (and a bit). I rate this as "good, but non-essential" however as it is available for free you have nothing to loose by downloading it and checking it out.