THE LAST BRIGHT LIGHT

Just imagine if 80's Pink Floyd melded with 90's Pendragon and added a smidgen of celtic folk fronted at times with a female singer....whew! That's a mouthful huh? I was lucky enough to find this album new yet budget priced at a Princeton record store. I only have their first album and wasn't too impressed. This one however is another story. I enjoy Josh's Gilmour-flavored guitar work a bit more then his Gilmour-flavored vocals which covers most of this album. He doesn't ape or steal melodies from Gilmour but you can hear his influence. Heather Findlay's voice is very good, not earth shatteringly beautiful ala Annie Haslam and the like but flows well with the rather laid back prog on this disc which pretty much sums up this album and band for the most part. Their music is a sort of Neo/symphonic prog with a small bit of Celtic folk. No space rockish Floyd, no bombastic Neoish Pendragon, yet there is a rather close tie with the two bands. The second half of the album picks up the pace with some upbeat tempos and riffing guitar here and there. It's not complex nor heady stuff, more atmospheric and wordy. They do jam some with Josh's guitar overshadowing Jennings's keyboard work. Overall tho, I took a liking to the disc the more I listened to it and there are many melodies that stick around in my head days after. For me it's a true 3.5 (very good) instead of a 3 (good). Seeing as it seems to be their most respected album, and I can see how they probably couldn't improve things from here on, it deserves more than 3....so.....4 it is!