THRU THE LENS

Although I hate to make comparisons, I believe the latest effort from Frank Us (the Mastermind behind Legacy Pilots) deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Alan Parsons, internationally recognized for taking core musical ideas and navigating them towards pop and rock perfection. So too does Us?substituting Progressive Rock for Pop?with the newest Legacy Pilots release "Thru The Lens."

Like Parsons, Hamburg native Frank Us, his own formidable talents notwithstanding, has chosen his ensemble of talent very wisely. Minnemann, Livgren, Morse, Sucherman, Mitchell, Slowak?and the list goes on, including another brilliant German talent, Finally George.

On "Thru The Lens," Us certainly sets the pace and creates the overall musical framework, but gives the other musicians an extremely wide berth to add furious flourishes and textures to an already solid set of aural bones. There's an awful lot of substance here that borders on being ready to burst; brilliance approaching the apex of its explosion point. Us, as a counterpoint, also steers us through passages that give the music plenty of time to breathe, and there are moments when I swear I can hear and feel the actual thoughts flowing out of his head.

The production is sonically gorgeous and lush?something I personally treasure in a listening experience, if only because I can crank up the volume and not be bombarded with harsh or boomy frequencies. And the cycling of talent throughout the tracks keeps the instrumentation varied and not fatiguing. In fact, only two consecutive songs feature the same lead vocalist. Simply put, it's a pleasure to listen to.

The outstanding individual talent represented on this record will be familiar to the majority of prog fans, not to mention the subtle "easter egg" nods to classic prog music that Us and his squadron have placed within the song structures?either intentionally or not?I'm still trying to decide. Long-time prog aficionados will enjoy hearing more of these subtle references in each new listen.

This is an impressive body of work for which I hope Us?and the rest of his crew?will be very positively recognized. Alan Parsons, are you listening?