TEMPEST OF MUTINY

I would consider Tempest of Mutiny to be the superior remnant of the now buried 7 1/2 "appendix" to the Number 7. A little more of what made Number 7 a creative and enjoyable album was able to trickle through. Like Strange Cloud it is a single extended track, in this case slightly longer at seven and a half minutes plus forty eight more seconds.

As with Strange Cloud auto-plagiarism is apparent on Tempest of Mutiny. I would say however that the influences are both better and more varied. The main structure of the track is built from a less complicated pop style. Its closest relation in my mind is the satisfying "Wake Up" from the Great Leap. From there the song undergoes a progression towards something that wouldn't be out of place on Number 7, Chupacabras or dare I say? Doomsday Afternoon. The inspiration here on is not restricted simply to Phideaux's own previous works. There is a pronounced vein of Jethro Tull running up its gut. The flute always manages to conjure Tull, but there's more to it than that. The tuning of the guitar and especially the use of an organ also remind me of the band that Ian built.

The end result of all this mixing and matching is a song which is conspicuously the work of Phideaux, but not routinely so. There's something indeed quite fresh about it. I take that as a good sign myself. On its own Tempest of Mutiny is insufficient to garner anything greater than a four out of five, but it has me looking optimistically for more unique output from one of my favourite bands.