SHADOWLANDS

Every time I hear about a new band being touted as a 'leading current prog band' makes me think that I might find something new and refreshing, that the days of good music are indeed coming back. Alas, most of the albums these days are like a painful reminder that progressive rock good times are long gone. There are a few notable exceptions, but Glass Hammer is certainly not one of them. I consider myself open- minded (I listened through a whole album of Black Eyed Peas! Oh, the pain!) so I wanted to find something good about Shadowlands. Nope. It has the sound of the 70's but mellotron and Hammond organ sounds make not a good album if there are no musical ideas. There are bits and pieces taken from the classic Yes albums Close To The Egde, Relayer and Going for The One and from some late 70's Genesis albums, these being the better parts of this album. The rest: weak vocals and lots of pointless keyboard noodling. The only feeling Shadowlands gave to me was a strong urge to play those classic Yes and Genesis albums instead. Sorry, 2 stars only! Beware, progressive rock haters might use this album to prove their point!