THE MAGICIAN'S BIRTHDAY

The album gets off to a great start with "Sunrise", opening with drums and organ that are penetrated with the scream-like yell of David Byron. It settles as the vocals are almost spoken. It builds.Themes are repeated. I like the organ play in this one. I must say that "Spider Woman" and "Sweet Lorraine" both do absolutely nothing for me, the weak songs of the record as far as i'm concerned. Both sound really dated. "Blind Eye" has some excellent guitar playing that reminds me of the ALLMAN BROTHERS. Good song.

"Echoes In The Dark" is a darker song (surprise) with organ floating as drums pound slowly while vocals sing with conviction. "Rain" opens with piano as reserved vocals come in. Not a fan of this ballad. "Tales" is a good song with a spacey intro as almost spoken vocals come in. Some tasteful guitar before 3 1/2 minutes to the end. And I love the guitar intro on "The Magician's Birthday". Drums come pounding in followed by vocals. Great sound on this the best track on the album by far. Check out the guitar before 4 1/2 minutes as drums impress. This just goes on and on. Amazing !

Man I wish the whole album was more like this. It's not though and 3 stars is my rating.