THIS

The UK's loss is the USA's gain it would seem. Tinyfish, Shineback and PA forum man Simon Godfrey has left our shores for the US and found some fellow prog luminaries to play with, including Tom Hyatt of Echolyn, in his new band Valdez. This is their first release and very good it is too.

This is not the prog of Tinyfish or the electronica of Shineback, this album is about the song. Mainly based around the keyboards of Joe Cardillo, you won't find too many instrumental passages in 13/8 here but you will find a collection of high quality songs.

The stand outs for me are the jaunty piano riff of 'Thirteen', the poignant 'Sally Won't Remember' (previously featured on Simon's 'Motherland' album), a wonderful bass and piano section near the end of 'Spite House', a version of Tinyfish's 'Driving All Night' and the chorus of 'Colorado' but the whole album is very easy to like.

If you're looking for technical prog rock with long instrumental passages in weird time signatures then you need to look elsewhere. If you're looking for a collection of melodic, superbly played songs then this is for you. Four stars Mr. Godfrey and thanks.