MR. E. JONES

For their sophmore LP, this Genova based band decided to shed away most of their heavy rock elements and jump into the symphonic prog rock bandwagon with full force (even if some of their early psychedelic sound is still present, most notably on the title track). The result is good in general and very good at times. While they are surely excellent musicians, their capacity of writing such complex prog stuff as their main competitors at the time is doubtful. Giorgio Usai keyboards playing is the main atraction here, with lots of Hammond, mellotron and moogs all the way, although Claudio Ghiglino's guitar lines are also of note. New singer Antonello Gabelli is not much different from the group's former frontman and does a good job too. Some vocal arrangements do give some extra charm on few tracks.

Don't get me wrong, the songs are good, the perfomances are very well done and I found nothing here to complain about the album itself. However, nothing really excites me either and it's easy to see why Mr E. Jones was not a big hit at the time. There were several other italian bands putting out much stronger material at the time. However, the band would include the heavy rock edge back to their sound for the next release, their best and most original album, Clown. Unfortunalty it would also be their very last.

All in all Mr. E. Jones is a very nice straight RPI CD by this obscure group. Nothing to write home about it, but nice anyway. If you like the style and already have all the classic stuff, you certainly should check this out.

Rating: 3 stars. good, but non-essential in any way.