FIRST IN A FIELD OF ONE

Alan Reed (known as the former lead singer of Pallas) returned to the progressive public with this release from 2012. This very well produced and great sounding record is a mixture neo prog and adult oriented eclectic poprock. The instrumentation is varied and has some prog sophistication, but atmospherically the album never gets very complex. Alan Reed has a beautiful voice and as a fan of Pallas you are almost certain to like his singing and songwriting on this record as well. The album doesn't have weak points and because of the musical variation it remains entertaining throughout. For instance, the opening track has modern folk influences (to the point of sounding a bit like a travelling commercial) and the last track sounds a like a jazzy cabaret song. Though I miss the seriousness of the full blown neo prog experience, the poppy moments of this record are quite nice. The guitars sound very epic on this record as well. 'First in a Field of One' is slightly more consistent than its follow-up. I'm going with a 3,5 star rating here.