TIME AND OTHER DELUSIONS

1. "Timeline" (8:57) are these guys for real? The music, individual musicianship is so rudimentary, and the lyrics among the silliest, most forced rhymes I've ever heard. This would be fine if it were 1966 and prog had not already been defined and populated by many jazz- and classically-trained virtuosi of their instruments, but this is unacceptible for serious prog musicians. Either this was a very old song the band had been rejecting or hiding since their early days and the decided to haphazardly throw together in order to have enough material for this album, or they were in a real hurry to throw something together at the last minute for filler. (If the latter is the case, I'm surprised the band didn't throw it at the end of the album.) (16.75/20)

2. "Alternate Life" (12:02) at least this one has a true prog feel (and flow) to it. (21.75/25)

3. "Where the Time Goes" (5:32) some jazzy shifts in this one beneath the wailing solo lead electric guitar! Nice! All the while it's Brett Cosby's mesmerizing guitar play that keeps one attending. And no vocals with banal lyrics. This is nice. They're improving! (8.875/10)

4. "The Penultimate Flight of Armando the Pigeon" (7:11) Great title. Why go the ELP route (with the Hammond leading the way) I don't know. The vocals are well-intended (and the lyrics actually better than that embarrassing opener) and the guitar leads excellent, but the rest of the music is a bit lackluster--dragging along as the singer conveys his story (Armando's plight). The GENESIS/ANT PHILLIPS interlude in the fourth and fifth minutes is pretty--and it works very well when the music returns to the main motif at 4:45. There are hints of modern IQ, old Gabriel-era Genesis, and even ancient 1960s proto-prog in this. In the end, I like it. (13.5/15)

5. "The King of Istanbul" (10:35) With this song it becomes obvious to me that the singer of the song is the lyricist for this singer, the same as that of the opening song, here displays the same obsession with rhyming--no matter what the result--sometimes multiple times within the same phrase or sentence! It's just too much! The guitar work, as always, is wonderful, the keyboards, bass, and drums perform well as supporters, the song is constructed with some epic qualities--including multiple gear and directional shifts with distinctly different motifs, it's just that vocal performance--with its ludicrous lyrical content--that drags the song down. (17/20)

6. "Warmth and Darkness" (7:32) an attempt at a ORION or HEMINA-like Sci-Fi radio-teleplay. I like this ANDY TILLISON-like vocalist (ChapmanStick player Mick Peters) so much better than the other. He might be a little melodramatic, but his bombast is less offensive than the rhyme-obsessed lyrical mess of the other. A nice tune for the conveyance of a little dramatic fantasy. (13.25/15)

7. "Count All the Days" (16:33) This one feels as if it should be cohesive and coherent, but it's not. The multi-layered vocal is just too muddled--distractingly so--and disharmonious with the music; it's literally as if the singing tracks were done in one studio ignorant and irrespective of the music it was supposed to fit. The space-atmospheric section between 5:13 and 8:40 feels a duplicate of the Jon Anderson harp and Rick Wakeman organ interlude in the middle of YES' "Awaken"; it's nice but, unfortunately, we're brought out of it with a Peter Nichols/IQ motif that (like most IQ music) bores me to tears. In the thirteenth minute some synth and guitar play liven things up, but fail to convince the rhythm section to shift gears or change direction until the very end of the thirteenth minute (that's five minutes of IQ-ness! Yuch!) Mellotron bridge (again) into the "Awaken" harp motif (again) only this time Mick Peters enters singing in a very pleasant lower register--and the backing/harmonizing vocals that soon accompany do not deter or distract because the music beneath remains so thin and atmospheric. The buildup in the final minute, however, threatens to replicate the over-stimulation of the the opening section. I like a lot of the ideas here, even though the musical motifs are rather tame, and the subject matter and mood captured is quite cool; if only those vocals didn't clog up the works! (26.25/30)

Total Time 68:22

Reading more of the band's history and bio, I'm saddened for the lack of consistency in the compositional (and performance) competency of this collection of songs. There are some great ideas, nicely worked out, but then there are others that feel as if they got back up "B" or "C"-listers to fill in during the studio time. What happened. I only hope that if and when I go back to listen to the band's previous two albums I hear and feel progress in the band's development, that songs like "Timeline" prove to be the exception and never the rule. Also, having been a ChapmanStick player myself, I must say that I am none too impressed with Mick Peters skill on that cherished and powerful instrument. Fortunately, he more than makes up for it in the conceptual and vocal departments. Also, mega kudos to guitarist Brett Crosby for consistently saving many songs whenever he soloed. Thanks, Dude! You kept me going!

B/four stars; a very interesting set of musical ideas that every prog lover would probably enjoy experiencing; definitely a band to pay attention to for future growth.

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