ONE INCH OF THE FALL

I'm writing this review with "ecstasy" as I'm now feeling HIGH enjoying the terrific music composition of this band!!! Yeah .. It elevates my emotion. This album is damn great! First of all, it's hard for me to classify under which category their music is. Probably close to ALLAN HOLDSWORTH's or BILL BRUFORD's "Feels Good To Me" (especially the song that has female vocal) or NATIONAL HEALTH's or UK's first album. Of course, ECHOLYN kind of music is here as well. Definitely the music of this album is not the kind of GENESIS (any era) music or even YES. It has a very intense jazz components in it. It's complex, but it's enjoyable.

Musicianship? Perfect! All contribute really well in this album. The way bass guitar is played really stunning. Organ sound is dynamic and shuffling. Female vocal flows harmoniously over music passage with little high and low variation. I would say the vocal part tends to be flat but it suits the music perfectly. Lead guitar? Scott McGill plays it wonderfully!

The beauty of this album (another thing) is that the quality of all songs are almost the same, each song is great! So, if I comment on some tracks only, it does not mean that other track does not deserve for review. No no no no . not at all! Wanna proof yourself? Just purchase the CD! You would hardly regret man!

The opening track "Open Up the Fog Lines" set the atmosphere of the album. Almost all tracks are in the same vein as this track. "Early Sun" is relatively slow track as compared to majority of songs. It has strong jazz platform in its musical scene. If I am asked to pick the best track and only one that I can choose, definitely I will go for "Golden Pretzel". Why? It has a unique arrangement and melody. The way the singer sings is really rocking. The keyboard is stunning. It's a nice blend of rock and jazz, I think.

My CD has three additional tracks recorded live from their previous work. All are performed perfectly. Overall, I have no other reason to classify this work as masterpiece as all tracks are excellent and beautifully crafted. One final point, beware of purchasing this CD if you are not into the kind of ALLAN HOLDSWORTH, BILL BRUFORD, NATIONAL HEALTH, ECHOLYN kind of music. Gatot Widayanto - Indonesia.

The arrangements are fun and satifying - I was glad the song wasn't over and we were returning to a section or phrase once again. Alan Holdsworth fans will appreciate this album and was wondering whether or not it was him I was hearing before reading the credits. The female vocals are reminiscent of Annette Peacock with Bill Bruford, maybe a little more pallatable.

When ECHOLYN broke up after the "As The World" album Chris Buzby formed his own band FINNEUS GAUGE. ECHOLYN would eventually reform but not before Chris and his band blessed us with 2 albums, including this one "One Inch Of The Fall". I understand the band named themselves after a railway worker named Finneus Gage who sort of became famous back in 1848. During some blasting a small piece of pipe went through under his chin and out the top of his head.They dared not try to remove it, instead they cut off each end and sent him home. He apparently lived this uncomfortable and painful(headaches) way for 13 more years as a recluse. The music here is not that accessible, it has a Rio flavour at times with the drumming of Chris' brother John being the highlight for me.The female vocals are well done and suit the music quite well. Scott McGill is on guitar, enough said.

"Open Up The Fog Lines" opens with heavy guitar before the (at times) purposely off key vocals and dissonant sounds come in. Rio influenced no doubt.This is different but it works extremely well. One of my favs off the album. "In A Different Hour" is more uptempo with prominant odd metered drumming. I like when it calms down after 2 minutes followed by some incredible guitar.The calm passage returns 4 minutes in followed by an even better guitar solo. "One Inch Of The Fall" opens with vocal melodies and some tasty organ runs. I love the intricate drumming as the song settles down with vocals. Some nice bass 2 1/2 minutes in. Great sound 4 minutes in. The vocal melodies are so good. Impressive guitar after 6 minutes. More organ in this one as well.

"Biogee's Lament" is like organized mayhem. Haha. I can't say enough good things about the drumming. Lots of keys early but the guitar starts to take over 2 minutes in and actually dominates the rest of this instrumental along with the drumming. Keys are sprinkled in throughout. "Unsinkable You" has some nice bass lines throughout. The multi-vocal sections were the only times I thought of ECHOLYN during this whole album. "State Of Art" is where she sings her best in my opinion. I wish I had the lyrics for this song. This is a very melodic song with guitar shining as well. "Early Sun" has a melancholic vibe to it. Keyboard solo 2 minutes in. Nice jazzy tune. "Golden Pretzel" is my least favourite song as her vocals are so aggressive and hard to listen to. A Rio flavour to this one as well. Check out the prolonged guitar solo though. Oh my ! This is worth the price of the cd alone.

Easily 4 stars. Adventerous music done at the highest possible level. Highly recommended. Many listens required.

The ephemeral project Finneus Gauge was a joint venture founded by brothers Christopher and John Buzby right after the demise of Echolyn. "One Inch of the Fall" was the second and last FG album, since soon after the release a somewhat acrimonious break-up took place (the album's title was also a premonition.). Anyway, with the reformation of Echolyn and the formation of Land of Chocolate, both Buzby guys managed to keep themselves busy in the world of art-rock. What can one expect from this band? Well, really a jazz-oriented type of prog rock, not too far from the stance that Echolyn had achieved for their "As the World" album, yet FG is anything but a facsimile of Echolyn. FG likes to focus on the amalgamation of jazz-rock and symphonic-oriented prog in many passages, but that's as far as the Echolyn parallels go. Given the specific inputs brought by singer Laura Martin, bassist Chris Eike and guitarist extraordinaire Scott McGill, it seems obvious just by reading the credits what kind of musical tendency the informed prog listener should expect. The writing and arranging strategies consistently create hard rocking guitar phrases, careful use of weird chord progressions (especially on the keyboard layers and bases), a notorious use of funky-like grooves in the complex rhythm structures (something like Shulman/Weathers-meets-Pastorius/Acuña). With the warmth of Laura's timber and style, the melodic motifs are given a special depth above and through the dynamic instrumentations. Canterbury, standardize psychedelic rock, Allan Holdsworth, Gentle Giant, Pastorius- era Weather Report, Thinking Plague - all these individual elements are clearly noticeable as influences for FG. 'Open Up the Fog Lines' opens up the album with splendorous energy. This same energy is retaken yet refurbished with a more controlled dynamics in the following three tracks (arguably, the best section of the album). Fresh and catchy, all three tracks are clearly structured under a calculated scheme. This factor helps to enhance the intrinsic jaw-dropping magic of each McGill solo every time it comes to the fore (his leads on 'Blogee's Lament' are humanly impossible, to quote the eternal maestro Zappa). Christopher Buzby, whose role in this band is less prominent than in Echolyn, also makes our minds boggle every time he displays a solo. 'Unsinkable You' is a rare example of mixing RIO and jazz- rock in a not too inscrutable progressive scheme. 'State of the Art' sounds similar in spirit to tracks 2 & 3, only with a more elaborated melodic approach: this allows Laura to work on the more subtle spaces of her vocal range. After yet another McGill solo, Buzby makes a fabulous impersonation of Kit Watkins: this track's instrumental expansion is another highlight. 'Early Sun' brings an intimate mood, close to the standards of country. 'Golden Pretzel' closes down the album on an aggressive note, with Laura working on her (unusual) rough facet. The instrumentalists shoot a Thinking Plague-meets-Zappa crossfire in order to provide a challenging sophistication to the relatively simplistic compositional basis. This song serves as an adequate closure for a powerful album: Finneus Gauge definitely does not deserve to be forgotten.

I think "One Inch of the Fall" is pretty awesome, even slightly better than the band's first release, "More Once More".

And it's great for all of the right reasons. This is jazz/fusion progressive rock of the very highest order. The very confidence, audacity and courage in the music and playing actually raises one's emotional level while listening! And THAT's why we listen to music.

The sound of Finneus Gauge is frequently compared to early Bruford and the first U.K. album, and rightly so (though perhaps a bit more aggressive here). Along with the complex meters and melodic, angular lines, there is the great guitar playing of Scott McGill (sounding much like Allan Holdsworth); group leader(?) John Buzby on drums who makes great use of the high snare drum and cymbals, similar to Mr. Bruford; brother Chris Buzby (of Echolyn fame) doing his best impersonation of the great Dave Stewart; and Laura Martin singing the avant-garde jazz vocals that are very reminiscent of Annette Peacock (and, at times, even Joni Mitchell). The bass guitar is handled very ably on all tracks by Chris Eike; he doesn't play like Jeff Berlin, but he's a great talent for this demanding style of music. Harmony vocals are provided by the Buzby brothers.

"Oh, so this is derivative music?" you say. Well, yeah, a little bit I guess.....but what better place to start being derivative than with 1977 Bruford? I mean, there's a virtual goldmine of music in this genre/niche that's barely been touched. Personally, I'll buy more.

Compared to "More Once More", this album seems to be mixed a lot cleaner - no speaker overload, and everything is distinct and balanced. And this album gets a little more rockier than the first album on a couple of tracks (notably, "Open up the Fog Lines" and "Golden Pretzel", the latter of which also contains an absolutely killer instrumental section with non-stop guitar soloing over an ever-changing time signature that I just can't count out! Good luck to you Pythagoreans.) The quieter "Early Sun" is the most acoustic song FG ever did, and very cool. Everything else is a musician's workout.

If you can find the Cyclops label release that includes three bonus tracks that are live versions of songs from the first album, you've really hit the jackpot.

As the title implies, this music plays dangerously close to the precipice without going over. Since this is the last cd from this short-lived group, why not snatch up the cd, and experience the thrill for yourself? You'll only fall....in love with the music.