A SECOND OF ACTION

The artwork shown here is the new version that has been created by a fan that Alfred is now using, but the original from 2002 had some of the letters highlighted so that it was possible to also read the title as 'Second Act', which of course it was. In many ways this is a direct continuation from the debut, although to my ears it doesn't work quite as well. I think one of the reasons for that is that there appears to be more use of sampled instruments in this album and the feeling is that this would have worked much better as a full band piece instead of doing it all through keyboards. I would really like to hear "Elephant Race" played by a group as it allows everyone to shine and really drive it along, but here with just keyboards and samples it does lose some of the effect. This is a rock number and I want riffing guitars!

Overall there are some great songs and arrangements on this album, but it doesn't quite stand up against the debut although some of the shorter numbers are also quite interesting. However, if you have already searched out some of Alfred's work then this is worth having and is probably 2.5/5.