NOT AS GOOD AS THE BOOK

What a courage to release a 2-CD with a huge booklet, including a 87 page concept-story, embellished with many drawings, a big hand for The Tangent! As a fan of progrock band Parallel Or 90 Degrees, I am familiar with Andy Tillison Diskdrive his distinctive voice, compelling keyboardwork and a bit sultry and hypnotizing compositions.

Those elements can be traced on the two epic tracks on CD-2 (these are more in the vein of Classic Prog than the songs on CD-1): Four Eos, One War featuring lots of dynamics and shiftings moods, a powerful Hammond sound, some sensational synthesizer flights, a strongly build-up guitar solo, all blended with the a bit cynical voice of Andy and in the more compelling, almost hypnotizing The Full Gamut the vocals are often mighty close to Roger Waters in the The Wall era. CD-1 is another story (musically), it contains 7 shorter and totally different songs: a tight beat with modern keyboards and fiery guitar in A Christ In Mid-Life, fluent jazzrock with swinging piano and screamy saxophone in Lost In London 25 Years Later, a bit sultry climate in The Ethernet, a swinging rhythm with a propulsvie rhythm- section, fiery wah-wah guitar and powerful solos on Hammond and saxophone in Celebrity Puree and a pleasant mid-tempo with swinging synthesizer runs, howling guitar and delicate Fender piano in the titletrack. My highlights on CD-1 are the hypnotizing A Sale Of Two Souls (wonderfully coloured by Andy his distinctive voice) and the compelling Bat Out Of Basildon (strong work on saxophone and the mighty Hammond organ).

Many titles and lyrics point at known books and songs and reading some pages of the story I enjoyed myself with the humor and fantasy of Andy, I would like to compare Not As Good As The Book with Tommy by The Who, The Lamb by Genesis and The Wall by Pink Floyd, of course it's not at the same level or musically similar but it's a also a very interesting Holy Trinity of music, lyrics and visuals, in my opinion Not As Good As The Book deserves worldwide attention!

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