ILLUMINATIONS

I was simply astonished when I heard this one. How could they come up with such an excellent album with only one member of the original crew left? Andy Powell (the one with the Flying V guitars) appears to be a mostly creative musician, as he and new guitarist Roger Filgate produced this album after twenty-some years of WA's existence.

The most astonishing feature here is the resemblence to WA's 1970s albums. The sound has evolved a little, but the style has not changed significantly and WA is still what we like and love.

I recommend particularly the song titled "Tales of the Wise", a 10 minutes piece literally filled with what WA has best to offer. Every song on it has a bit of spark in it and when the album finishes it leaves you wanting more.

The only inconsistency of this album might be the vocals, handled by bassist Tony Kishman, whose singing resembles the one of 1980s albums and thus is juxtaposed to 1970s-like guitar play.

I would actually give this album four and half, but progarchives don't allow me to, so I round it up. It's really an excellent and unexpected album.