THE THOMAS TRACKS

There were a few standout moments like track four, "The spell of eternity" and track 6 "Tricks and treason" that kept me listening for so long in the hope that further magic would rise to the surface. Well my endurance has paid off.

What may seem like a fairly dry uninspired 74 minutes at first does actually bloom into a consistent, thorough, and rich concept album that I suspect will keep getting better as time passes.

Once penetrated, The Thomas Tracks reveals that its beauty lies in its subtlety. From what I read, 5Bridges seems to be made up of mature musicians. At a guess I'd say that some of the band members are at least 45years+. The kind of understated music that is presented here, I feel, can really only be successfully written and performed by those that have a solid foot in the past. A way to illustrate this would be to compare Marillion's "Misplaced Childhood" that is full of drama and indignant outbursts, with a later album like "Marbles" that is performed by a band that has greater control over the way it chooses to express itself. So although The Thomas Tracks is a debut album, I get the feeling these guys have been around the block a few times before.

There is no filler on this album, indeed one gets the feeling that the foundations had been firmly mapped out and secured before any artistic development began. I read just recently that the concept is based on a novel published by the drummer Rob van der Linden. He and the band obviously know the source material intimately and it shows.

Comparisons with Genesis? Absolutely. There are phrases in the music that reference Genesis very delicately. Does the singer sound like Peter Gabriel? Hmm..kind of, but with his Dutch accent I fondly say that he sounds in some places a little like Peter Gabriel impersonating Gold Member from an Austin Powers film. Don't let that put you off though.

Acquiring this album wasn't the easiest of transactions I made last year and I've read in other places that I am not the only one to have had that experience. I hope that future 5Bridges albums are available in conventional outlets.

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