IN THE LAND OF GREY AND PINK

At first glance, this is an amusing yet shallow album, but look a little deeper and here is an album that can be appreciated on more than one level. No individual musician stands out to me as being especially outstanding, but all together they create a sound that most of the time can be considered pleasant. I really like the vocals as well, being reminiscent somewhat of The Beatles.

'Golf Girl' is maybe the most Beatles-ish track, with some fun, almost psychedelic lyrics, and some interesting chord progressions. 'Winter Wine' is a more sombre song, with some rather spooky melodies, but still retains the charm of the first track. 'Love to Love You' is a higlight, and has a very catchy sing-along chorus, and more amusing lyrics. The title track is my personal favourite, with its drugged up lyrics, and amusing vocal harmonies, letting you know that this is indeed a very ENGLISH band, and nothing like the prog you'd expect from the other side of the Atlantic. Also interesting is the fact that the lyrics are very much alike to the comic poet Edward Lear (check out his poem, 'The Jumblies' for a good example). The closing epic is 'Nine Feet Underground', which seems to be the main atraction for many reviewers, but not for me. It's a good track and works well as background music, but just doesn't capture me like the other songs. There is too much jazz influence for me maybe. The band seems to focus too much on their (admittedly competent) jamming, and not enough on the vocal sections, which they do a lot better IMHO.

Maybe if all the tracks were more like the title song, and 'Love to Love You' this would be a five star album, but the rest of the album just doesn't amaze me, but it is all of above average quality. 3 stars, although i highly recomend it.