LADY LAKE

Lady Lake is the second studio album from Welch act Gnidrolog. I enjoyed the band´s previous album In Spite Of Harry's Toenail, but never found it excellent. Lady Lake is unmistakably Gnidrolog with the Peter Hammill ( Van der Graaf Generator)like vocals from Colin Goldring, the Ian Anderson ( Jethro Tull) and David Jackson ( Van der Graaf Generator) like flute and sax playing and Gnidrolog´s conscious choice not to include a keyboard player in the ranks.

Lady Lake consists of six tracks. The opener I could never be a soldier has lots of beautiful flute playing. It´s an 11:36 minute long track and even though it´s a great track it´s probably my least favorite on the album. In the end of the song we´re introduced to new man John Earle´s powerful and excellent sax playing. Ship is next and it´s a song with great brass arrangements, but it´s a bit repetitive. Great song though. At this point I thought to myself that this was a big 3 star album. Next song is A dog with no collar which is a short beautiful song. If I ever considered giving Lady Lake 3 stars that is not in my thoughts anymore after listening to the title track. What a dark, majestic and wonderful song. Again the sax playing is fantastic. Same Dreams is the only song with piano from guest Charlotte Fendrich. It´s a short and rather strange love song. Social embarrassment is like the title track a dark and powerful song with John Earle on vocals. I´m really impressed at this point and couldn´t dream of giving the album 3 stars.

The musicianship is excellent and I have to give a special mention to the new man John Earle. He has really given this album the extra dimension that Gnidrolog needed to make a unique and extraordinaire album. Sax and flute enthusiasts should take a listen to his playing.

The production is great and detailed.

It´s taken me a while and many listens to appreciate Lady Lake but finally I understand what a unique and excellent album this is. For me this is not a full masterpiece but it´s certainly a sure 4 star album.