TALES FROM TOPOGRAPHIC OCEANS

I've been listening to punk since 1977 (when I was six) and I always thought progressive rock was a load of old twaddle made in hermetic conditions by impossible posh mummies boys who coudn't even BEGIN to envisage what a dole queue looked like. And lo and behold that's probably true...but what great noises are made herein.

I still listen to bands like Discharge, Germs and Sham 69, and I'm not going off them. But this album (and prog rock in general) is an absolute revelation. Anderson is a completely ludicruous lyricist and the concept is, well, beyond words, but the music here is truly awe-inspiring. I only heard this for the first time three months ago and it's got to be one of the best things I've ever heard. It doesn't equal Relayer or Fragile (in my opinion), but after thirty-odd years of listening to the Lurkers this makes a most refreshing change, and you simply cannot fault a band this brave, daring and original.

All punk ass motherflippers should give it - and other great prog bands like Genesis and VDGG - a long hard inspection because this was FAR from the worst music of the 70s: that honour goes to all those awful boogie bands and trilly twee folkies Whispering Bob used to wet himself over.

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