ONE DROP IN A DRY WORLD

Officially Woolly Wolstenholme would return to discography in the second half of the 90's, when he teamed up with John Lees for the album ''Nexus'' credited to Barclay James Harvest Through the Eyes of John Lees.Wolstenholme would begun working on new material and members of this project participated in the upcoming Maestoso album: Craig Fletcher on bass, percussion and vocals and Kevin Whitehead on bass along with old bandmate Steve Broomhead on electric and acoustic guitars.Wolstenholme of course played all keyboards, sung and handled some guitars on the album ''One drop in a dry world'', which was released in 2004 on Eclectic Discs.

The old stylings of BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST along with elements of cinematic/orchestral music and Singer/Songwriting stylings are all displayed in this new work by Maestoso, finding Wolstenholme in a good form.While keeping some of the vintage flame of his past years, the material sounds very fresh, melodic and even contains up-to-date hints of British Pop Rock in a few straightforward tracks with nice vocal work and memorable choruses.Other cuts have a nice symphonic feeling, heavily relying on Wolstenholme's atmospheric keyboards and the mightly Mellotron, sounding like tiny suites linked to Classical and Film-Score Music.And at the end there are also these retro-sounding, longer cuts featuring the seminal Symphonic/Art Rock sound of BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST, some great Mellotron intros and interludes, shifting guitar tempos and clean singing lines, completing a set of sweet arrangements.You can't call this album overly very progressive, because complex themes are rather absent, the compositions are mostly based on alternating Mellotron and organ parts, vocal deliveries and melodic guitar tunes, but the atmosphere has much to do with the movement, twisting between melodramatic passages, ethereal soundscapes and romantic tunes.''Blood and bones'' is the best cut in here, heavy on Mellotron with dramatic singing parts and constant use of electroacoustic backgrounds.

You know what to expect from a Woolly Wolstenholme/Maestoso album: Strong songwriting, grandiose keyboard work, attractive moods, well-crafted ballads and symphonic overtones.If you are deep into these, ''One drop in a dry world'' is a must-have.Recommended.