TALES FROM THE LUSH ATTIC

The debut album release from these Neo Prog stalwarts, their signature sound and style are still forming, the band still groping for evenness and consistency. Still, there are some very nice songs here--definitely nothing "poor" or too disappointing--and even an epic ("The Enemy Smacks") reaching the heights necessary to crack the halls of Prog Valhalla (it may be even better than some of the soggy epics they've released in the 21st Century!).

1. "The Last Human Gateway" (19:57) (31/40) 2. "Through The Corridors" (2:35) a faster paced song driven by some serious ALEX LIFESON/STEVE HACKETT-like guitar. (4.5/5) 3. "Awake And Nervous" (7:45) opens sounding like an organ and Arp Christmas ditty before the band joins in with some intricately woven drum, bass and guitar work. It threatens to sink into an ABACAB abyss before switching directions into a bit of a blatant Gabriel-era GENESIS imitation. Nice drumming. Peter Nicholls as a Peter Gabriel imitator? Who knew? (12.75/15) 4. "My Baby Treats Me Right ´Cos I´m A Hard Lovin´ Man All Night Long" (1:45) electric piano solo by Martin Orford. Kind of classical. Trying to go super fast. (4/5) 5. "The Enemy Smacks" (13:49) a solid multi-movement epic more bombastic but perhaps more infused with YES than the Marillion stuff coming out near the same time. Martin Orford was really good! (27.5/30)

B-/3.5 stars; a solid album and nice welcome to Prog World for this long steadfast contributor of high quality Neo Prog; rated up for freshness and sophisitication.

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