THE SLIPPING OF A DAY

The debut by Cirrus Bay is uneven, something they corrected beautifully on their 2nd cd. Nevertheless 'The Slipping Of A Day' has some great moments. The first third of the album is not well produced, and although there are nice melodies, the vocals are at best, mediocre. This changes during 'Rainbow Hills', and the last two-thirds of the album reveals some fine symphonic prog, especially in the tracks 'Slipping', and 'Beyond The Blue Horizon', both full of magnificient chord changes and sterling melodies. I could see many chucking the cd before it gets that far, however, which is unfortunate. Bill Gillham, who writes all of the music, should have left the first 3 songs, or at least the 19-minute 'The Color In Your Head' off of the album, and it would have been a great album. For some reason, Alex Brighenti, who sounds poor on the first few tracks, sounds really good in both the aforementioned 'Slipping', and 'I Can Only Wonder'. Sharra Acle, who takes over lead vocals on their 2nd album, sounds good throughout.