SOME SEVERAL MOONS

The one-star review I had written almost a decade ago was probably the worst and meanest ever, done with a very negative attitude in which I didn't even listen to the album through completely. I erased the whole text away!

True, the first song 'Chord Squad' is so dull that one fears the whole album to be totally uninteresting middle-of-the-road rock, and especially if you were expecting a proggier approach from this band that once was the crown jewel of Finnish prog, you may lose your patience to simply listen to it with open ears. 'Sandpainting', 'Bow Lane' and 'Kabul Grill' are fairly good - if not highly progressive - Rechardt compositions, and his guitar playing is as glorious as before. Jim Pembroke's vocals are actually in a better shape here than on 2002's Titans Wheel. Overall this is a more natural-feeling and relaxed album than its precedessor. The sound is pretty nice, co-produced by the "WolfGang" (Hannu Leidén, Virpi Immonen, Matti Kervinen) of the Sveaborg-based Seawolf Studio.

'Squaw Valley Non-Event' (9:22) has the most epic structure, and it's slightly similar to other Rechardt songs such as 'Absalom' (Light Ages, 1993). From the duller end of carefree rock'n'roll style come also Pembroke tunes 'Tokyo Joe' and 'Banging on the Ceiling'. 'Cacobe Bar Two-Step' with a Tom Waits -like percussive arrangement reminds a bit of his early solo albums such as Wicked Ivory. So, this album is very uneven concerning the songwriting and for the most part it's not prog at all, but in the end it's an improvement over the tedious Titans Wheel. Also this one's over an hour long and would have easily been improved by skipping the worst songs. 2½ stars, rounded wown due to the thrashy cover design.