SPLENDOR SOLIS

I have had this since it came out and as a review at the time put it...and I paraphrase...'If you want Led Zeppelin fronted by Jim Morrison, this is for you'. Also, being 1993, it was a counter-point to the tail end of grunge and perhaps a seam few at that period were gouging in to. The 'quote' above is a simplification but it can be argued with.... Having gone all in with grunge (it was rock n roll maaan) but since thinned out to what I consider to be the best of the genre, this album picked up the energy, the better production values but with a far bigger slice of 'classic' influences and quickly became a much played favourite. The follow up (Edge of Twilight) is their best in my and most other peoples opinion but this disc still has a special place as at the time, amongst my friends, I seemed to be the only person who knew about them (pre internet children!) and you were given kudos for a discovery back then!

So do we really have an In Through The Out Doors Zeppelin? Again, if you need things simplified and a single sound bite you could say yes, but if you dig a little deeper... Jeff Martin does have a Morrison sound, but his voice is a real instrument and is richer and more mellifluous. At times (Sun Going Down) the resemblance to the late Jim say circa LA Woman is uncanny but am certain this is just an accident off timbre and not a deliberate act....and if someone said 'there's a bit of Jeff Buckley in there too' you wouldn't disagree. For a three piece, allowing for Martins multi instrumental contributions, they do have a 'big' sound. I never saw them live or heard any live material so I don't know if it translated to stage. Perhaps it is just me (it usually is...) but compositionally I hear echos of the 80's gothic The Mission (whom John Paul Jones worked with...stretching a connection) and to be fair, that isn't a criticism. Again, I haven't got or heard the debut from 2 years before, but this is a fully formed sound to my ears and that is fairly remarkable. I guess the argument becomes is it too derivative or does it take the influences and move them on some place. I am very much in the latter camp but the cloth eared at the time settled on the lazy 'Zep clones' response for the hard of thinking. Highlights? The aforementioned stomp of Sun Going Down and any of the more thoughtful tracks (Midsummer Day/In This Time) which do have a dark undercurrent leap to mind. They do fuse a strong middle eastern influence with the blues/rock and do it well but it can be seen as cliched (it aint a particular bands fault if others take something and 'do it to death'). Also, sonically, the drum sound is 'massive' so the up tempo tracks hit you square between the eyes.

Check this and the following album out. The current rating (3.79) is all but in line with my personal 3.8 but with the PA limitations I make it a 4.