COMBINATION HEAD

1. "Clover Road A,B,C" - album begins surprisingly soft with classical sounding acoustic piano passages a la Rick Wakeman. Later come synthesizer and backing organ layers. So far nothing spectacular and while you're listening to it, you can start to think that it has nothing to do with ELPish prog I just mentioned in the beginning. Sounds more like neo-prog or even some kind of soundtrack music. But don't be mislead, it's just a beginning of this longest track. Later on tempo picks up significantly and we can enjoy tons of great synthesizer leads backed by mighty guitar licks, something very much in the vain of Jobson's UK. But the real treat are the last 4 minutes where Paul Birchall plays some fantastic, percussive-effects implemented Hammond organ solos which sound like taken directly from some undiscovered ELP's "Tarkus" session. Truly memorable part.

2. "Devonshire Crescent" - short (less than 3 minutes) but great piece of music which picks up where "Clover Road A,B,C" finished. Lots of organ solos backed by very catchy guitar melodies. ELP meets Don Airey (check out Don Airey's second album if you don't believe me!).

3. "Combination Head" - this one is undoubtedly another winner here. Very up-tempo, energetic track loaded with unstoppable Hammond organ, additional synthesizer sounds & surprisingly hard edged electric guitar solo which makes it sound almost like prog-metal in the style of Ayreon. I can also think about Japanese keyboard-led super bands Gerard & Ars Nova here, seems that Paul Birchall was also inspired by these groups too.

4. "Blue Waters" - short interlude piece entirely played on acoustic piano. Just to let you take a breath between one keyboards extravaganza and another.

5. "The Bonk" - slightly jazzy track led by groovy organ riffs (with this great percussive sound masterminded by Keith Emerson in early 70s). Rather slow-paced but really interesting. All of those quirky melodies here sound a bit Egg-like for me. This specific Canterbury Scene atmosphere is definitely here.

6. "Clover Road D,E,F" - simply extraordinary Hammond organ & Moog synthesizer heaven. Highly dynamic non-stop bashing of analog keyboards is exactly what I'm looking for in my retro-prog. Organ sounds almost exactly like Jurgen Fritz's gear on Triumvirat's mini-epic called "Panic on 5th Avenue", and it's a great compliment 'cos I simply love it!

7. "Fourteen" - undoubtedly the weakest track on the album, very electronic sounding (almost like J.M. Jarre or Klaus Schultze) but thankfully we have a real drummer, not a machine here. All of these synth-made atmospheric noodling can be tiresome.

8. "For What?" - albums ends with a bit more mainstream sounding piece, but it's still enjoyable. Guitar riffs, organ layers, frenetic drums & additional synths, all in all not bad at all, but sounds too much like some TV advertisement soundtrack. I like this Moog solo near the end, very wakemanish.

In one word: must-have. Combination Head's debut is the album I highly recommend to all symphonic (retro) prog fans and especially to Hammond-oriented music maniacs. I can easily compare them Emerson, Lake & Palmer from they prime days (1970-1974) but I'd like to also mention Japanese keyboard-player Motoi Sakuraba who seems to have very similar style to Paul Birchall. Other bands/artists you'll surely enjoy if you like this release: Triumvirat, UK, Don Airey, Trace, Ars Nova, Gerard, Social Tension, Nexus, The Nice, Little Tragedies, Collegium Musicum, Pär Lindh Project, The Load, Duncan Mackay, Lalo Huber, Subliminal, Le Orme, Quill, Nuova Era and Taproban.

Overall Combination Head seems to be one of only two (relatively) new British bands I enjoy (the other one is The Tangent)! Let it be a good recommendation for you.

Best tracks: "Clover Road D,E,F" & "Combination Head".

5 stars (with only small minus) from ozzy_tom

And now the songs:

1. "New City" - after few seconds of unrelated electronic noises and police (or fire-brigade?) siren, the real "thing" begins: powerful organ-led instrumental with additional analog synth solos. Gareth Moulton also plays some great metallic guitar sounds here. Very dynamic & symphonic influenced track. Halfway between ELP/Triumvirat & Ayreon, but the most suitable comparison would by Japanese keyboards wizard - Motoi Sakuraba. Very similar style, really!

2. "Glass and Steel" - quite catchy and rather mellow pop/rock ballad which reminds me Pink Floyd's work on "The Wall". Background organ, leading synthesizers and warm vocals (probably it's Paul Birchall's voice, not sure).

3. "Liquid" - the longest track of the album is a very enjoyable instrumental. It's rather slow tempo and without any flashy keyboard solos, but I really like this omnipresent organs & melodic synthesizers here. Relaxing composition, slightly in the vain of Camel. Splendid.

4. "Smoking Tree" - slightly boring track based on calm piano and atmospheric synthesizer landscapes.

5. "Future Wisdom" - along with "New City" this is the most Emerson, Lake & Palmer inspired composition. Fantastic organ runs all the way through + supportive guitar tones. Some fragments seem to be even "stolen" from "Tarkus" suite but overall it's Combination Head's own vision of keyboard-led symphonic rock formula. So far so good!

6. "Anthem" - this one begins with lengthy, mellow electronic/piano landscapes like from some Vangelis' soundtrack but later on Neil Fairclough (guesting vocalist) starts to sing and we find out that "Anthem" is in fact quite nice electronic-pop/rock quasi-ballad. More mainstream sounding tune but not so bad.

7. "Solid Ground" - extremely surprising song! Begins with some goofy since-fiction voices and later on we have a mix of up-tempo alternative rock with electronic pop and ultimately catchy Hammond organ rides. Nick Van Eede's (guesting vocalist) really suits this material. In fact after some editing it could become a radio-friendly hit :-).

8. "Tomorrows World" - nice, slightly folky ballad with acoustic & electric guitar and background keyboards. Suitable vocal delivery by Gareth Moulton, very warm & pleasant. Overall very poppy but not offensive for my ears.

9. "The Great Escape" - another unusual song for Combination Head. In fact it's some kind of disco-hit track with infectious female vocals by Sheila Gott. Sounds like disco but it's so much better than your typical FM radio staff. Very sharp guitar, great bass work & floating synths are truly good, but the best is gritty organ solo included in the end of the song.

10. "Cloud Cover" - my least favorite track on "Progress?". Sounds like your usual radio-friendly staff. Not memorable at all. Only some Moog/organ/guitar soloing near the end is worth mentioning.

Overall "Progress?" is a much different album than Combination Head's debut one. It's more varied in style and that's why it may make some of the most hardcore prog-heads very unhappy. But wide range of different kinds of music & arrangements on this particular album sound rather good for me. Anyway first part of the album seems to be stronger and directed toward ELP/Triumvirat/Collegium Musicum/Trace/Social Tension/Motoi Sakuraba/Gerard/Ars Nova keyboard-based symph-prog aficionados, while the send part is more mainstream, radio-friendly oriented. So I recommend it to both kind of audiences.

Best tracks: "Future Wisdom" & "New City"

4 stars from ozzy_tom

Despite the fact that the music is a bit too serious and retro sounding for contemporary rock fans, a bit too mellow and patient for pop and AOR fans, and a bit too AOR for prog fans, I simply cannot shake the feeling that any collection of tunes so shiny and competently crafted... so catchy yet still adorned with artistic vision all around its edges... simply must garner an appreciative audience one way or another - even as it most certainly alienates a significant portion of their core fan-base in the process.

Had this been a debut album in the year 1986, not only might it have been a big hit, many of us prog fans would most likely still harbor fond memories of how cool this group was for a pop band. But they aren't a pop band. And it isn't 1986. Most critically, their core audience remembers them as a very well produced fusiony instrumental outfit with tons of tasty keys. To this audience, "Museum" convincingly provides a most resounding answer of "No" to the question posed by the title of their previous album.

As art-rock and prog-rock music fans, we tend to fool ourselves into thinking we want our favorite artists to follow their muse and to pursue their own vision. But, if the truth is to be told, it seems far more likely to me that we actually prefer our favorite artists to give us what we want (as long as they do so in such a manner that appears to us as though they are pursuing their own artistic vision in the process).

Never mind that there isn't any pop jackpot cash cow for these guys to milk... Forget the fact that you can't "cash in" without the cash or "sell out" without the sales. Combination Head may be simply creating whatever type music they want to - but many in the world of prog will not receive this album with open arms.

All that having been said, I will go on to further say "loud and clear" that if you "can listen as well as you hear" every now and then, and if Alan Parsons Project meeting Camel on a somewhat commercial day-trip doesn't send chills of trepidation down your spine, this may very well be the guilty-pleasure album of the year you've been looking for. Check it out! Highly recommended!

Let's describe those songs and instrumentals one by one:

1. "The Curator" - already first track shows significant weaknesses of this record: too many artificial sounding synthesizers and repetitive, drum-machine like percussion. Because of these factors this instrumental sounds too lifeless. Of course we have some Hammond runs and nice electric guitar leads, but boring drums beat and annoying electronic noises (I suppose they were intended to be "spacey") ruin our pleasure. Not a complete flop (as I said organ & guitar melodies are rather decent) but near.

2. "Particle Zoo" - another track begins even much worse! Lots of silly electronic loops and "atmospheric" synth effects sound like taken from some bad J.M. Jarre or Klaus Schultze recording. To make things worse after a while we're forced to listen to very boring vocal section which reminds me Depeche Mode or something like that. Thankfully after less then 2 minutes Birchall rides his trusty Hammond organ again and tempo speeds-up significantly. Even vocal becomes more aggressive, not so lifeless like in the beginning. Using of acoustic piano & some acoustic guitar is also a plus. Overall not so bad, one of the best track on "Museum" (if not this silly "intro").

3. "Turn me Down" - quite good track with catchy organ chops but very poppy vocals. All in all much more AOR than prog (very "American" feeling I would say). My favorite part of the song is lengthy Hammond organ solo...which is the only organ solo on the whole album! If you remember their fully Hammond-oriented debut it must be a shock for you. Thanks to this solo and electric guitar one, second part of this track is more proggy.

4. "Thyrotron" - the biggest offender on "Museum". Extremely boring synth/electronic fest which lasts for whole 2 minutes. Paul listened too much Tangerine Dream recently or what? From 2nd minute Gareth Moulton starts to play some not bad hard rockish guitar solos but it's not enough to change my mind about this turkey. I have to add: this repetitive synth "plumping" which keeps wandering through-out this track is horrible!

5. "Truth Seeker" - finally almost completely satisfying composition! Truly symphonic sounding composition with melodic guitar riffs and pianos/synthesizers. Real goodie with only slight soundtrackish feeling. Less bombastic than ELP or UK, but still enjoyable instrumental.

6. "Consumer Fool" - wrong! Seems that Paul Birchall spent too long time with pop-stars a la Cher or Geri Halliwell and he became infected with some pop virus, because most of this song is such bubble-gum mainstream pop. Thankfully in the middle we can listen to some nice, Pink Floyd-ish synth soloing but it's still can't save "Consumer Fool". Truly bad.

7. "Museum" - half-baked instrumental + soul female vocal harmonies which sound completely out of place in prog-rock context. Some nice guitar/Moog/organ interludes but that's all.

Overall "Museum" is a disappointing experience if you expected high quality prog-rock music like on first 2 albums of this formation. Too many pop/AOR elements, overuse of digital keyboards, artificial sounding drums, sometimes repetitive compositions - all of these are main sins of the record. However I can't say that it's a total turkey which should be flushed into the toilet. There are still many enjoyable symphonic-prog fragments, some great keyboards solos or memorable parts.

Overall I hope that it isn't Combination Head's swansong 'cos I really hope they will come back to organ-driven, ELP-like format from their debut album.

3 weak stars with huge minus from ozzy_tom.

The CD is quite varied but it keeps the high quality of the songs all the way through, with no filler nor weak parts. It is ok that they surely could be a little more adventurous on some tracks, since they have the chops to do so (maybe the reason why they were labeled here as neo instead of the more fitting symphonic rock banner), but they decided to keep it short and direct. And they did it very well, by the way. My only gripe with this CD is its short overall time (a little over 38 minutes). It makes you long for more. And then you press the repeat buton over and over.

If you like instrumental prog rock with lots of conviction and passion, this is a must have. They showed a strong personality from the very start and I´m looking foward to hear their next works.

Ratinhg: 4 strong stars.

I can tell you,this album is million miles far from Birchall's past works.This is 100% melodic instrumental progressive rock with symphonic and Fusion touches with influences coming from the afore-mentioned keyboardists as well as CAMEL,U.K.,THE FLOWER KINGS, SPOCK'S BEARD and GENESIS,while adding some strong NIACIN echoes here and there won't be far from reality.This is obviously much of a keyboard-driven album with Birchall prooving to be a fantastic keyboardist,working his way through heavy yet inspiring organ passages,classical piano moments,obscure synth parts (I'm reminded of EDDIE JOBSON's style on U.K. releases here) and deep chaotic electronics!This is one of the finest keyboard works I've heard lately!Ashcroft is also a pure power for the band,rising the sound to a higher level with his strong and dynamic solos,while he also uses his smoother style of playing on the more atmospheric and calmer instrumental passages,not unlike ANDY LATIMER.Burgess is just the right piece to end the puzzle:strong,steady and confident drumming all the way.All non-progheads out there should listen to this work and finally get in touch with what good progressive rock is all-about.For the prog community,no comments:This is almost a must- have release!