CONFLICT AND DREAMS

The second album from Cairo continues the path begun on the first album. The sound to mix is as if you combined ELP with Utopia. The Addition of Jamie Browne on bass is a plus. His comlex fills add to the already densely packed music, although he's mixed a bit down for my taste as a bassist.

The songs, except for a brief keyboard interlude are all epics, the shortest being almost eight and a half minutes, and the rest all over ten minutes. And while the entire band is exceptionally talented, the highlight here again is keyboardist Mark Robertson, whose admiration of the great Keith Emerson is absolutely evident. In fact, to my ears, this is better than any ELP album since "Welcome Back My Friends..."

So if you like your prog loud and bombastic (I do), like to hear a talented keyboardist impersonating Keith Emerson (I do), this is a good choice.