TIME MACHINE

Fifth album for the British quintet COMEDY OF ERRORS since their brilliant comeback in 2011 with "Disobey" which relaunched their career more than twenty years after a chaotic debut in the neo-progressive movement of the eighties, more precisely in 1984. am going to tell you their story again since I have already done so in my previous columns for the group and Fred SIMONEAU had conducted an interview with Joe CAIRNEY in July 2017

Five years during which the group from GLASGOW has remained stable in terms of personnel, the same six musicians are present on this "Time Machine" which was entirely composed by keyboardist Jim JOHNSTON as were the previous opuses. The work is quite short forty-five minutes plus the track "Disobey" in the 2016 live version, I would say it's enough and much better than a seventy-eight minute pad of which you don't listen to half ....

"The Knight Returns" which opens the album begins like a good old rock n roll, surprising to say the least, we beat time, we tap our feet, the kind of start you don't expect, very good for start a concert, more progressive in the second half with the guitars (Sam MC CULLOCH and Mark SPALDING) featured (8/10). Change of scenery, change of tempo with very original "Demigods" with a cover of Ludwig VAN B to open the ball, a title where Joe CAIRNEY shares his demi-gods with us (Leonardo DA VINCI, GALILEE, NEWTON, EINSTEIN, SHAKESPEARE... ) a song rather song, a sort of pastiche to remind us that some men of the past were well ahead of their time (7/10).

New sharp turn with the first epic of the album "Wonderland" of the complexioned progressive with a three-minute instrumental approach, quite rock (the two six string players still them), a piece with many breaks and changes of direction, not easy to be continued but that's also the progressive spirit; Jim JOHNSTON only really enters the scene from the seventh minute, protean keyboards, violin samplers, Mellotron pads, moog solo, in short, the complete panoply is out, Joe's voice is modified as if it had been vocoder ? between the tenth and the fourteenth minute, weird...(8/10). A small four-minute instrumental pearl "The Past of Future Days" to breathe, of Hispanic inspiration surrounded by a grandiose mellotron and a beautiful bass (John FITZGERALD) well rounded, strongly original there too (10/10).

Make way for the second epic of the disc with the eponymous title "Time Machine" (10/10), introduced by a soft piano over the first two minutes before a muffled rhythmic pair intervenes then Jim's keyboards in loops for a rise in intensity until the seventh minute and then a new surprise...a break with lyrics in French..."Tomorrow, at dawn, when the countryside whitens, I will leave. You see, I know that you I'll go through the forest, I'll go through the mountain. I can't stay away from you any longer. I'll walk with my eyes fixed on my thoughts, Seeing nothing outside, hearing no sound, Alone, unknown, with my back bent, my hands crossed, Sad, and the day for me will be like night. I will not watch the gold of the falling evening, Nor the sails in the distance descending towards Harfleur, And when I arrive, I will I will put on your grave A bouquet of green holly and flowering heather"

The most fervent and passionate among you will have recognized the famous "Tomorrow at dawn..." taken from the Contemplations of Victor HUGO of 1856, another demi-god (not mentioned in the second piece of the album) for come full circle on this COMEDY OF ERRORS album. I repeat myself but we are in the presence of a record off the beaten track of agreed and too often recited progressive music, for the record it is Jim who recites Victor because much better in French than Joe, confidence of the latter ?:), it is a "tribute" as we sometimes specify, to an exceptional man.

The fifth studio album of Comedy of Errors, called Time Machine, is, just like in the Beethoven symphonies, their very best ... so far. Well, it's the first of their albums I am giving a rating of five stars out of five. Although the album is just 5 tracks long (plus a live bonus track version of their previous highlight Disobey), it offers a wide variety of musical styles, concepts and ideas.

To begin with the first song 'The Knight Returns': after an ultra short intro of just 6 chords on keyboard, the listener is immediately being overwhelmed with a very fast paced up-tempo song containing good vocals on a great drum rhythm in 12/8 measure. After a while a kind of medieval intermezzo brings down the tempo, after which the song turns into a rock ballad, kind of in half time with great solo guitar work. About one and a half minute before the end, the tempo is being doubled again, but this only serves as a passage to the original up-tempo in 12/8, which concludes this very impressive first song.

The second song, "Lost Demigods" is kind of a tribute to a certain classical composer, as it starts with ... yes indeed, the opening motive of Beethoven's fifth. More than just a randomly chosen symphony, I guess. Above a steady rhythm a vocal passage follows with solo verses, alternated by multivocal choruses. At the end of the song a citation of 'Freude schoner Gotterfunken' from Beethoven's 9th symphony occurs.

Now "Wonderland" is, as you would expect, a "wonderful" song, an epic over 15 minutes long. Starting with distantly sounding motives and vocals, after a minute or two the steady rhythm section joins in. Gradually the piece builds up tension, as more theatrical chords enter the scene. We hear a great guitar solo just before the 5 minute mark, and more nice keyboard work after that until the song comes to a stop with a siren-like glissando all the way up as if we were listening to the Rhapsody in Blue intro from Gershwin. This paves the road for some more great drum work after which the glissando comes back, but now all the way down. Accompanied by a snare drum rhythm a new theme enters, followed by the motives from the beginning of this song. Now a Bach-like theme is introduced which is being repeated many times with different instrumentation. Again the piece builds up tension, until the theme (quite unexpectedly) is also being sung by Joe. More symphonic variations on the theme follow until, about 5 minutes before the end, the steady rhythm section from the beginning returns. More verses follow with the Bach-like theme played on different instruments now serving as intermezzo between them. One and a half minute before the end of the song, it's time for the grand apotheosis, with theatrical chords accompanied by drum rolls, until the closing chord, which suprisingly enough again gives room for a very soft echoing of the Bach-like theme on synthesizer.

"The Past of Future Days" is an instrumental piece with an important role for bass, (synthesized) strings and accoustic guitar, multiple times they interact like in a fugue. Sections with and without drums accompaniment alternate.

The title track "Time Machine", an epic over 12 minutes, is a fabulous composition. Starting with slow piano chords serving as accompaniment for the first verses the slow rock ballad builds up tension while more and more instruments join in, even with (synthesized) brass. After a while the piece seems to end, but it turns out just to be a passage to an up-tempo instrumental fragment of the song with great guitar and synthesizer solos. Just like in the previous song, a kind of fugue is being started until suddenly the 'come prima' slow rock ballad tempo returns, which serves as introduction to a fragment sung in French, like a 'chanson'. This starts very soft, but again it builds up rapidly until we hear the rock ballad chords and rhythm again. The last 3 minutes of the song we get great guitar solo work again, sometimes with 2 parallel lines like in the famous Eagles song Hotel California. The song ends with a hymn-like closing verse with accompaniment that seems to fade out, but the opening piano chords form the real and ultimate ending of this magnificent song.

In a comparison with the earlier albums, I would say they skipped the 'below average' songs and enlarged the excellent ones into longer epics. On this album I especially like the Bruce's way of drumming. But Joe's vocals are also excellent. All in all this album should enlighten many prog rock fans. Highly recommended, not just for Errors fans!

It was only when reviewing Comedy Of Errors most recent album, the excellent 'Threnody of a Dead Queen', that I realised I had missed out on the two prior to that one and given how the four I have heard since the reunion have all been superb I knew I had to rectify that immediately, if not sooner. 'Time Machine' was released in 2022, their fifth of recent years, containing five new songs (two of which are more than 12 minutes in length) plus a live recording of "Disobey" from their appearance at RosFest in 2016. I am convinced the only reason these guys are not more well- known or appreciated within the prog world is due to geography, as if they were from London as opposed to Glasgow they would surely be operating in a different stratosphere altogether. They continue to provide superb songs in a polished neo prog style which is quite unlike others, yet never lose sight of the need for guitars when the time is right, although they are quite happy to layer on the keyboards as well. As I write this the band are celebrating their 40th anniversary, and two of the founders are still there in Joe Cairney (vocals) and Jim Johnston (keyboards) while Mark Spalding (guitars) joined not long afterwards.

When the band are concentrating on instrumental passages, such as "The Past of Future Days" one wonders just why they bother with vocals as they can tell a complete musical tale without them, here bringing in some lush acoustic guitar and a feeling of classic Oldfield. However, start at the beginning with the Eighties Neo blast of "The Knight Returns" with crunching guitars and over the top keyboards and it is clear why they use vocals as in Joe they have one of the finest singers around, effortlessly rising above the powering music beneath. This one track is more than worth the price of entry alone, as anyone who loves Classic Neo Prog (yes, it's a thing) is going to have a massive smile on their face from beginning to end. I know I did, and the harpsichord sampler is wonderfully over the top and just right. I would have been more than happy with just the new songs, but the live take on "Disobey" is wonderful and was obviously their opening cut from the set as we get cheers as band members walk onto the stage during the keyboard introduction. Bear in mind that while many know this as the opening cut of their comeback album it was actually originally recorded all the way back in 1985! Their 3 CD set, 'Oh! The Innocence - The Early Years', is well worth tracking down.

Comedy of Errors continue to deliver wonderful music and all their albums are well worthy of investigation. This is wonderfully constructed music from a band who are still delivering the goods and anyone who enjoys Neo Prog with the rough edges smoothed away and polished to a high gloss finish with get a great deal from this.