JUMPING THE MILESTONE

In this last two months of 2022, the eighth discographic release in the studio for the Frisians of FLAMBOROUGH HEAD, always masterfully led by keyboardist Edo SPANNINGA, composer of the entire disc except for the final track and eponymous "Jumping the Milestone" but above all their first album for nine years and the much appreciated but also wrongly misunderstood "Lost in Time".

The composition of the group changed again with the return of Eddie MULDER, the former guitarist in charge this time of the bass guitar, an Eddie MULDER who had packed his bags in 2009 after "Looking for John Maddock". The new six string players Hans SPITZEN is a guitar teacher in everyday life and handles both electric and acoustic. Their music is always anchored in a classy neo-progressive, certainly without deep originality but always pleasant to our ears. Another notable change in the music of FLAMBOROUGH HEAD, a presence of the flutes (classical and recorder) of Margriet BOOMSMA much more important than in the previous opuses which allows a strong aeration of the music and a softening of the few fleshy parts which remained .

"The Garden Shed" introduces the album in a very brilliant way with the solo flute of Margriet BOOMSMA, the acoustic guitar of Hans SPITZEN and the evanescent keyboards of Edo SPANNINGA, a little over ten minutes of excellent neo progressive to Celtic connotation in places, more camelian from mid-piece when the flute and the electric six-string this time lead us to heights of indescribable beauty (10/10). What a start!!! Much better than a simple garden shed...:)

The following four tracks have an almost equivalent duration between 7:41 and 8:56 so let's see what differentiates them. "Tomorrow is Another Day", the shortest of the four begins (again) with Margriet's flute (obvious inspiration from his compatriot the patriarch Thijs VAN LEER), then his calm and dreamy singing on a new Celtic theme before the arrival of the guitar of the new kid Hans SPITZEN, a good pleasant piece which is more song than progressive, below the previous piece well sure but superior to many things listened to in recent months (8/10). We continue with "Start of a Nightmare" more nervous from its beginning before the appearance of ...... the flute of Mrs. BOOMSMA supported by the keyboards of Mr. SPANNINGA (organ rarely used by Edo, some layers of mellotron and a mini moog en fusion), the vocals are more prominent here than on the first two titles while blending perfectly into the overall theme, Hans once again showing himself to his advantage in acoustics as in electrics (9/10) and Edo offering us a hair-raising moog solo in the final part.

Casually here we are halfway through the disc, time has passed at breakneck speed..... "Fear of Failure" which can be translated as the fear of losing, begins like a symphony, flooded by multifaceted keyboards by Edo SPANNINGA with the high-pitched vocals of Margriet, a six-string worthy of a Steve HACKETT at its best, the flute only arrives here at the fifth minute (I thought it had it lost....), in short, a superb piece, high-end neo-progressive according to the consecrated but very real expression in this case (10/10), the organ solo in the final part is a model of the genre . The penultimate title already, "Walls of Words" plus song also especially in its first third, will be the least exciting track of the work, while remaining frequentable (7/10) many keyboards a little jazz at times, a little West Coast to others (POCO?), too patchwork for my taste before the arrival of the flute (at 5:04) which counterbalances this relative disappointment, the worst track on the album which would be the best on others...

Let's end this trip with the eponymous piece "Jumping the Milestone" composition by Hans SPITZEN over twelve minutes long, introduced and continued on the piano by himself between two flights of very kayaking guitar, let's stay among the tulips, the mills and the polders (at 5:50 the six-string there is really great), surprise it's the only track with few ......flute (she must have lost it on the way because she only arrives at 9:26 ), a fine example of symphonic progressive neo at its best (9/10) which ends too abruptly in my opinion (three or four more minutes would not have mismatched the picture!).

An excellent opus that will figure very prominently in my annual review.