THE WORLD THAT WE DRIVE THROUGH

This is one of the new albums that I just got it last week. I had not even got a chance to review the debut album (2003) "The Music That Died Alone". I would surely do it later. This second album is packaged and produced on par excellence with the first. The nuance and texture are similar to the first album. I really like the artwork by Ed Unitsky. Top notch!!! This second album is dominated by green while the first was more on blue but with similar design. Great design and it's really a collector's item; it's very nice to be put in your prog collection. It's really a prog design, I would say. I think, Ed Unitsky is the future Roger Dean. The CD package has influenced me a lot on the kind of music that I expect the band would perform. And, yeah .. the band performs as my expectation when I listen the album in its entirety.

"The World That We Drive Through is a slowly growing monster that lurks in the back of your mind for ages, until it finally reaches its time to bloom in splendid fashion. And oh dear me, how it grows and grows. " - quote of the week. That's a thought provoking statement the band put on the first page of their website. Unlike the first, this album does not include David Jackson (of Van der Graaf Generator) in the band (project). His name appears only on "The Tangent would like to thank" list of names without any notes on what sort of his contribution in this album. Theo Travis (Gong.. Porcupine Tree etc) replaces David Jackson seat on Flute and Saxophones. The rest is intact. Writer and keyboards player Andy Tillison is here again joined by Roine Stolt (Electric Guitars/Vocals), Jonas Reingold (Bass Guitars), Zoltan Csorsz (Drums), as well as Guy Manning (Acoustic Guitars/vocals) and Sam Baine (Keyboards).

Do you think psychedelic music would intrude or influence Canterbury ? It sounds weird ? That's my first impression when listened to this CD the first time. I was blown by the first track "The Winning Game" where I'm sure that most of you would agree that this is the kind of Canterbury / jazz music. But look, observe how the music flows; listen how the singing is performed. You might agree with me a heavy influence of psychedelic in this track. It's really unique and accessible to my personal taste. This opening is really a well structured composition and performed skillfully by each member of the band.

It flows seamlessly to the second track "Skipping The Distance" in relatively faster tempo with sort of guitar riffs (sound weird in jazz music hah? But I sense it clearly and it's really nice). The appearance of flute (Theo Travis) has made this track interesting and enjoyable. The music flows naturally with dynamic bass line augmented by stunning electric guitar fills. The organ part during interlude reminds me with classic prog tunes. When it turns to flute and piano solo . uuugghh . what an excellent piece here, my friend! It then followed by electric guitar solo. This track is a killer!

"Photosynthesis" starts with an ambient intro followed with touchy piano fills and low tone voice line. It's a mellow and melodic opening with a sort of symphonic touch especially on keyboard sound at background, accentuated by sax. The piano fills coupled with dazzling bass line provide a classic and jazz nuances. If you are a jazz lover, you might love this track. I enjoy the short organ interplay that appears later throughout the end of the track. The track ends fabulously with a flute sound that fades out.

The title track "The World We Drive Through" starts mellow with a soft piano touch followed by a harmony of acoustic guitar and flute. The melody sounds flat at the beginning but it then turns to a faster tempo when drum kits start to roll on to the body of the song. I can sense the influence of VdGG and National Health. When the music reach the interlude part at approx. minute 5:00 onward, I even sense the kind of ELP sound in it. This part is really excellent. Great guitar, piano ,keyboard as well as bass works. The music turns back to the tagline melody as the opening part. The solo sax is really excellent.

"A Gap In The Night" is the concluding track with longest duration in the album: 18:22 minutes. It kicks off mellow with melodic vocals and piano / keyboard augmented by howling guitar. It reminds me to Peter Hammil and VdGG. The music moves to a faster tempo with higher tone vocal line. The combination of guitar and keyboard is really excellent. There is a nice acoustic guitar part at the section titled "The Street Light Watershed" with great vocal line. The vocal then turns to a higher tone like screaming and followed by a great keyboard work. Then . here it comes ..a guitar work that bothers me quite a lot since the first time I listened to this track. At minute 11:30 until 12:00 - the guitar melody rings me a bell to other 70's rock music that until now I cannot recall from what band / artist. The guitar playing style reminds me to early King Crimson but not with the melody. Definitely it was not Crimson melody. But I'm sure. there was a sort of that melody. So . for the time being I just put this mark ###### for my future remedy when I got the clear idea of it.

My CD is a special edition with bonus track: "Exponenzgesetz" (14:00) that I listened to only once with multiple forwards. It's not the kind of track that I expect the band would play. Honestly, it's a terrible track. It demonstrates the musicians ego in performing solo synthesizers, minimoog. It's the kind like space music of Klaus Schulze, Larry Fast, Tangerine Dream etc. I don't know why this track is put in this album. It's wrongly included here.

Without the "lousy" bonus track, I rate this album (overall) with 4.5 / 5. Highly recommended. GW, Indonesia.