WAR AND PEACE & OTHER SHORT STORIES

Following some fairly major brain surgery at Christmas I've found myself with a lot of time on my hands whilst recovering at home. The vast majority of my time has been spent doing what I love the most, that's listening to Prog in all of it's various genres. I have to say the very first time I listened to War and Peace and Other Stories, I was hooked. This is definitely not an album to be put on as background music or if there are people around you who are likely to want to talk whilst it is playing. This is an album that deserves to be heard when you can devote your full attention to it, preferably without interruption on good speakers or at least great headphones. One thing I noticed was the increasingly rewarding listening experience you get, i.e. the more you listen, the more you get from it.

This is particularly true with track 2 Prisoner of Conscience Part 1, Sean's voice is full of so much emotion on this track, there is also some soaring guitar work in this extraordinary track that literally gave me goosebumps!! To single any one player on the album though, is possibly to detract from the others who have contributed. In truth, ALL of the playing on this album is nothing short of excellent. I was aware of Sean's work with Big Big Train, but with this album I feel he has truly shown us all what he is capable of producing, and I can hardly wait to see what may come from him in the future.

If you feel the need to treat yourself, then buy this album it really is incredible.