STORMS OVER STILL WATER

4 1/2 Stars. An excellent album, though not quite a masterpiece or essential album. MOSTLY AUTUMN continues the turn away from their celtic-folk beginnings to more of that of classic rockers. The CD basically starts out with 6 short rock songs, all are good, but certainly more classic rock than prog. Of the songs, the best is "Heart Life", which is softer, leass rock than the others. All the songs are very enjoyable, and extremely well played. Than with track 7, the CD begins to change. "Coming to" is kind of a trippy, driving rock little instrumental which leads into the proggier rest of the CD. MOSTLY AUTUMN have never made a secret of their PINK FLOYD influence, and "Candle to the Sky" could have been straight out of any of the classic FLOYD albums. A great song, followed by an even greater song,"Carpe Diem". "Carpe Diem" is probably the closest song to older MOSTLY AUTUMN". Than another masterpiece in the title track of the CD. Three (3) great songs in a row, all masterpieces. None of them hit the 10 minute mark, as they range in the 7 and 8 minute ranges. The CD ends with a another rocky instrumental called "Tomorrow". I had heard that the CD should be listened to from beginning to end uninterrupted, and I think that holds true. The whole CD just has been extremely well put together. My biggest regret is that while I love this CD, I preferred the celtic-folk influences of their earlier CDs. Also, Angela Goldthorpe, who is an outstanding flautist, gets pushed more into the background. Her playing has always added another beautiful layer to the playing of MOSTLY AUTUMN, but on this CD, her flute is only audible in a few songs. Overall however, MOSTLY AUTMN'S musicianshipp has never been better, Ian Jennings fine keyboard work comes more to the front, and there isn't a better almost unkown guitar god than Bryan Josh. An outstanding CD.