AQUAPLANAGE

Aquaplanage´s first CD is a mixed bag. You can tell those guys have the chops: they are simply terrific players and have some astonishing harmony vocals. Well, they had to since they were a Yes cover band called Fragile. And even though it is clear that Yes is a very strong influence, they are not coypcats of that legendary band. They have a great potential, even though their debut album suffers from a general lack of direction.

The CD starts quite well with the 15 minute epic Ode To Grey Morning it´s a kind of a more progressive version of Jethro Tull (guitarrist Robert Illesh´flute here sounding a lot like Ian Anderson´s). Not overtly original, but good anyway. Then comes the very different Sands Of Time, where the band takes an almost totally arabic structure to new heights. Great crossover prog! But I must say that the sensation I had was that those tracks were played by two completely different bands. This feeling remains with the next tune, Natures Sunday, a more slow, bluesy song. Good, but a bit awkward.

Next are two instrumentals: Solara is a keyboards only track that sounds more like a big introduction than proper song, just a 5 minute filler. Aquaplanage is a better efford with some nice acoustic guitar fills. Not very outstanding, but nice. Then the band suddenly turns to a more popish sound with Heaven´s Gate. Good AOR stuff, but it sits oddly with the more progressive material of the first part. After that we have A Song To Stand Above, probably the weakest in the whole CD. It sounds like Yes in its worst times. Theme is another instrumental that has some nice sounds, but in the end goes nowhere. One Star finishes the album with a simple, acoustic pop tune.

I found very hard to rate this album. As I said above, those guys are good and have a great potential, but they are far from having their own sound. I guess Aquaplanage is not enough for a full 3 star rating. 2,5 is more fitting. Promising, but with a long way to go yet.