THE MUSIC THAT DIED ALONE

I actually got to hear this prior to release, and thought it was fantastic. When I finally got the CD, that feeling held. After repeated listens, it didn't hold up so well, and I put it away for a while before pulling it out again in preparation of this review.

This album is a retro prog tribute album, albeit featuring original compositions (with the exception of one part of The Canterbury Sequence, Chaos at the Greasy Spoon, which is taken directly from Hatfield and the North). This is not an opinion, but a fact. Tillison meant this to be a one off side project (hence the name) to get some old school prog out of his system. It ended up taking on a life of its own, however.

In listening back to this, it certainly is not masterpiece. But it is a well written and performed album with some great playing by all (especially Tillison). I'm not fond of the idea of making each section of long pieces into separate tracks, but aside from that there is nothing much wrong with this album. Perhaps it is the fact that this was not really a band at that time (which it now is), that makes this album seem a bit weak to me. The opening suite has some great moments, and the title track is a sublime piece of music with poignant lyrics about the "guilty" pleasure of prog listening as well as a powerful instrumental section. The Canterbury Sequence is good fun, with great flute playing by David Jackson. But I guess it's the sort of album where you stop noticing new things after a few listens, and it just becomes repetition after that (unlike the most recent Tangent album, A Place In The Queue). But it's still enjoyable to pull out every once in a while as I learned recently.

So a pretty solid album, in the supergroup pulling out a retro prog tribute album sort of way. Later works will be better, but this is worth hearing for those who already like and know the album. If you are fan of Tillison or PO90, or Roine Stolt and the Flower Kings, then consider it essential.