LADY OF SHALOTT

Lady of Shalott is one of the highlights of Israeli prog, a very interesting album with some very high "ups" and minimal "downs"... Almost every moment is virtuoso playing, lush composing, ranging from minimalstic to bombastic...

It's hard to say that every moment is musical genius, but nearly every single moment is freaking COOL. Everything is very complicated, you can sense the complexity, and yet, the tunes are simple, melodic, easy to love. In this sense, it reminds me of Camel... Complex but simple...

Although, I wouldn't say that Camel are a main influence, that would have to be Yes. It's hard to avoid the feeling of "Damn this is an absolute Yes ripoff", but somehow that dosen't bother me... Well, personally, I don't get a sense of deja-vu when I hear them... they just don't sound unique, they sound like a rip-off, but it's not like you will hear any familiar Yes tunes on this album...

The vocalist [Efrayim Barak] though, is just a pretty mediocre immitation of Jon Anderson... the keyboardists [Yuval Rivlin] is also highly influenced by Rick Wakeman.

I must say that the bass on this album is spectacular, Alon Nadel does not remind me of Chriss Squire at all, his style is amazing and I think he is freaking brilliant.

Also, the Drumming on this album is definitly the highlight. Yeah, he immitates bruford... but he sounds different, more technical, sometimes more complex and creative. I love his drumming much more than I do bruford... so props to Mr. Ami Lipner.

All around I think this is a very good album. Not essential though. I couldn't give it a 5 star because it's not an important album, its not a masterpiece. it is VERY, VERY cool though, and I listen to it more often than I do some 5 star albums.