NOT EVERYBODY'S GOLD

If ever there was an album that I have eagerly been awaiting it was this one. I gave Sara the booklet of their last album to read the lyrics, and she agreed with me that it was some of the most powerful and thought provoking she has ever seen. So how could they match 'The Robbery Of Murder'?

Simple, don't. What they have done here is take the music in another direction without losing any of the power that was there before. David Ragsdale from Kansas has again grace proceedings, here playing on the thirty-minute epic "Sweet Hope Suite". Nevertheless, before getting to that, the last 'song' on the album there is much more to enjoy. The opening instrumental gives no idea of the power of the following number "Riding The Fence" which has some very early-Kansas sounds at times, particularly on the keyboards. It is with Kansas that musically they have the most in common, and that surely cannot be a bad thing.

An album that is a joy from start to finish, with enough strange rhythms and counter melodies to please any proggers, often in the same song. "January" on its' own is enough evidence to buy this album, let alone the epic that is later.

Spock's Beard, Salem Hill, Discipline and Kopecky are all very active prog bands from the States, and all deserve your support. Start here.

Originally appeared in Feedback #62, May 01