STORMS OVER STILL WATER

"Storms Over Still Water" is the sixth studio album of Mostly Autumn and was released in 2005. It follows the same path of their previous album "Passengers" but with a production problem, the song order. It seems the album is split in two. The first half of the album contains mainly pop rock tunes, while the second half contains much more proggy tunes.

It was the first album with their new drummer Andrew Jennings who substituted Jonathan Blackmore. It was also the last album to feature their former keyboardist Iain Jennings, which was substituted by Chris Johnson on their next seventh studio album "Heart Full Of Sky". So, the line up on the album is Bryan Josh (lead vocals, lead, rhythm, electric and acoustic guitars), Heather Findlay (lead and backing vocals and percussion), Iain Jennings (backing vocals and keyboards), Liam Davison (slide electric guitars), Angela Goldthorpe (backing vocals, flute and recorders), Andy Smith (bass guitars) and Andrew Jennings (drums). The album had also the participation of Troy Donockley (low whistles and Uilleann pipes), Chris Johnson (backing vocals), and Mark Goron and Chris Walkden (backing vocals), as guest artists.

"Storms Over Still Water" has eleven tracks. The first track "Out Of The Green Sky" written by Josh and Findlay opens the album quite heavily with a slow rhythm and a heavy guitar riff with a good slide guitar play. Findlay's vocals are more aggressive than usual. This is a great opener to the album. The second track "Broken Glass" written by Josh and Jennings is a good and interesting song, very catchy and melodic. It's a song with a good chorus and a very strong drum beat. The keyboards are the prominent part on the song and are probably the best thing on it. The third track "Ghost In Dreamland" written by Josh and Jennings is a good and beautiful song very bombastic and with a wonderful keyboard work. The harmony of the song is absolutely perfect when Findlay sings with Josh. It's a song with a pop tune, but that sounds beautifully to my ears. The fourth track "Heart Life" written by Josh and Findlay is the first song on the album with a folk tune. It's a very beautiful ballad where Findlay's vocal performance sounds warm and sensual, showing her great vocal skills. This is the best track on the album so far. The fifth track "The End Of The World" written by Josh, Findlay and Jennings is a very interesting song with some good lyrics and nice music. It seems to me a song that is inspired by Genesis in Peter Gabriel's era and that suddenly and curiously changes to an unexpected Pink Floyd style in Roger Waters' era. The sixth track "Black Rain" written by Josh and Findlay is a heavy rock song that reminds me Deep Purple or even Uriah Heep. It's a song with a good heavy guitar riff and a nice heavy keyboard sound. This is a very powerful hard rock song very pleasant to hear, really. The seventh track "Coming To?" written by Jennings is a magnificent instrumental track that marks a change in the musical direction of the album to most progressive songs. It's a song with a very special wild musical ambience and with heavy guitar riffs and a remarkable good keyboard performance. The eighth track "Candle To The Sky" written by Josh is the best track on the album, until now, and represents the first epic on it. It has been described many times as "The Dark Side Of The Moon" of Mostly Autumn. It's easy to see why. The similarities are so obvious that just listen to both to can see why. The ninth track "Carpe Diem" written by Findlay and Jennings is the second epic on the album and is another excellent track. Finally, we can hear Troy Donockley and his Uilleann pipes and low whistles, giving to the song some very beautiful Celtic feel, so common to hear on Mostly Autumn's music. The tenth track is the title track "Storms Over Still Water" and was written by Josh. This is another great song where Josh and Findlay shine once more. It represents the third epic track on the album, and with the two previous songs "Candle To The Sky" and "Carpe Diem" represent the three highlights of the album. These are the kind of songs we expected to hear on a Mostly Autumn's album. The eleventh track "Tomorrow" written by Josh is the second instrumental track on the album and represents a typical Mostly Autumn's composition. This is a bombastic song with a great performance. It seems to me a reprise of the previous track that closes the album nicely.

Conclusion: As I wrote above, with "Storms Over Still Water" Mostly Autumn follows the same pattern they followed on their previous studio album "Passengers", moving away from their beginning prog-folk sound to a more symphonic sound. Still, despite "Storms Over Still Water" be similar to "Passengers", is less balanced than "Passengers" is. Despite "Storms Over Still Water" has some of the best material ever released by the band, such as, "Candle To The Sky", "Carpe Diem" and "Storms Over Still Water", it's at the same time an unbalanced album with a great second part and a rather worst first part, in general. However, "Storms Over Still Water" has, probably, some better songs than "Passengers" has. So, I'm going to rate it with the same 4 stars. But, if you want to know the band for the first time I recommend start with their older works, "For All We Shared", "The Spirit Of Autumn Past" and "The Last Bright Light".

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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