GULLIBLES TRAVELS

Gullible's Travels was Abel Ganz' second album and, for me, this one is preferable over the decent but rather tame and forgettable debut album, Gratuitous Flash. Gullible's Travels is a more coherent and less immature effort, but it is also quite different in style compared to the debut. While Gratuitous Flash sounded a bit more like a long forgotten, second-rate effort from some obscure classic (that is, first wave) Prog band, Gullible's Travels is more rooted in the Neo-Prog tradition. Imagine Genesis in the And Then There Were Three and Duke-era but without the powerful song writing skills and the unique musical identity of Genesis and without the distinctive vocals of Phil Collins and you have a pretty good idea of what Gullible's Travels sounds like. Good, but rather anonymous and not very memorable. Comparable, perhaps, to Mike Rutherford's Smallcreep's Day.

The first thing to take note of here in comparison with the band's debut album is the much stronger presence of guitars. This makes the sound rockier and there is a nice balance between keyboards and guitars. The second thing to notice is the complete absence of Alan Reed behind the microphone. There is nothing wrong with Paul Kelly's soulful vocals as such, but he does sound very anonymous, much like a session vocalist - that is, talented but, unlike Reed, without his own vocal identity. With Reed on board, Gullible's Travels could perhaps have been a better album. But the compositions are still not strong enough for that to have made a significant difference.

Gullible's Travells is just about good enough for a three star rating in my opinion and as such it is enjoyable and pleasant but far from essential listening unless you happen to have a very special interest in Abel Ganz and their history

Share this ABEL GANZ review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to SouthSideoftheSky
• Report this review (#463586)
• Buy ABEL GANZ music online with PA partners
• Show all ABEL GANZ MP3/Stream
• Go to ABEL GANZ page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Gullibles Travels page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for ABEL GANZ related discussions