SOMEWHERE BUT YESTERDAY

''Serpents in camouflage'' was followed by a nice supporting tour but also some line-up changes for Citizen Cain.The band toured along with The Enid and Pendragon,but shortly after drummer Chris Colvin was replaced with Nick Arless.The leading duo of Cyrus and Stuart Bell didn't stop here,as bassist David Elam and guitarist Frank Kennedy were also both replaced by Andy Gilmour and Alistair MacGregor respectively.Being in their most prolific phase,the new Citizen Cain wrote and recorded their sophomore effort ''Somewhere but Yesterday'', another release on the Dutch SI label, in 1994.

Their sound remains grounded mostly in the GENESIS field along with some MARILLION- esque hints here and there.The tracks are much longer,ranging from 9 to 25 minutes (the eponymous one),being slightly more symphonic compared to their debut.The talent of the band however is again lost somewhere between the total lack of originality and the force for ambitious ideas.This is a complete GENESIS clone band with a singer sounding similar to PETER GABRIEL and Bell performing along the lines of TONY BANKS.Still their compositions contain a lot of interesting passages and even some really beautiful parts.Symphonic arrangements with plenty of pastoral flute work,sometimes with a folkish vibe,massive organ work,dreamy and flashy synths,Classical-inspired piano interludes but also a guitarist closer to the distorted style of STEVE ROTHERY than to this of STEVE HACKETT.Cyrus' performance remains at the same high level with a lot of theatrical twists on his singing,while the tracks have sometimes a dark mysterious atmosphere.The sound of the band remains rich, vintage and captivating with fairly complicated themes and a reasonable amount of complexity.

Not a big step forward,neither a step on the opposite way.''Somewhere but yesterday'' may seem a slightly more ambitious effort compared to Citizen Cain's debut,but the final result is the same.Great Neo/Symphonic Rock with a rich sound but very far from personal or unique.If you love GENESIS (like I do) and have no problem with total clones (I do have),you will love this album.If you are on the other side,just listen to some samples first to ensure Citizen Cain's sound is really interesting...3.5 stars.