FABULIS MIRABILIBUS DE BOMBYCOSI SCRIPTIS

1. "Fist of Fury" (5:10) hard drivin' (8/10)

2. "The Cunning Madrigal" (4:20) unforgettable melody (8.5/10)

3. "Prelude to Concealment (2:23) probably looks really good on paper! (4/5)

4. "Wooden Horse Pathos" (3:57) more like 'wooden apathos.' J/k! I actually hear/feel a little emotion in this one (loose playfulness!) More like this, please! (8.5/10)

5. "The Split Gate" (6:57) a familiar Balinese Gamelan song taken and progified. Great opening third, loses its soul a bit once it goes racing into the prog jazz fusion track but then regains some dignity in the final third. A top three song for me. (13.75/15)

6. "Rebellion" (4:04) raunchy Grunge sounds brought to a bluesy-jazz fusion fabric. Great Fripp guitar. I really like the pace of this one: it allows each instrument the opportunity to be heard. Another top three song. (9/10)

7. "The Stairs for Dreaming" (2:27) weird and disjointed. (4/5)

8. "Echoes From Romano" (5:27) beautiful classically-infused opening 90 seconds with great melodies. Turns hillbilly hoedown in an ELP way in the second minute. Thankfully returning to the melodies of the opener in the third minute before transitioning into an all-out YES ALBUM passage in the fourth minute. Great song despite its unusual motifs spliced together as they are. (9/10)

9. "The Daughter of a Recluse" (2:10) opens with a Japanese folk melody played on keyboard bamboo flute. Joined by guitar, bass, and then electric guitar--still in the first minute. With a weird keyboard passage at the beginning of the second minute, this is obviously meant as an étude. (4.25/5)

10. "A Way of Living as Taro" (2:40) echoplex-like guitar introduces a tightly formed CARAVAN-like Canterbury tune. keep expecting Richard Sinclair to start singing! Love the steel drums! (9/10)

11. "Doppelganger in the Night" (1:14) raunchy electric guitar-led étude. (4/5)

12. "Isolated Jiro" (4:14) opens like a heavy pop song before going into a jazz-rock theme. (8/10)

13. "The Understanding" (1:01) gentle BOB JAMES-like whole group smooth jazz. (4.5/5)

14. "A Grim Diary" (5:53) rolling bass line with Bruford-like syncopated drums opens this one. Soloing electric guitar enters around 0:40. Synth takes a little trip in the fore around 1:00 before relinquishing the reins to guitar, bass and drums again. Odd synth sounds join in the third minute and then piano fills a pause before things amp back up for the final stretch of almost three minutes. Slight changes in tempos of several of the instruments though the overall pace remains constant. Pretty cool how they did that! (9/10)

15. "Amalgamation of Self and Others" (1:36) electric piano solo exposition is cut off at 0:35 by synth-generated "ocean wave" sounds. EP rejoins, trying to be heard through the electro-static fuzz.(4.25/5)

Total Time: 53:33

Impressive display of skills! What lacks in the music from much of this album--especially the first half--is some kind of soul; it all feels so much like mathematically worked out mental masturbation--circle jerking (cuz of the tight timing and frequent feeling of entrainment). I respect the artists, their skills and their hard work, but I want to feel more of their spirit in their art. Perhaps they were trying to impress too much with those opening songs.

Four stars; an excellent addition to any prog lover's music collection.

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