A leftover album from the prog kick, and a band I heard my dad mention back in the day. Awkwardly, this sounds really familiar, but I have no memory of sitting down to listen to it, so I'm going to go ahead and declare it eligible.
This is possibly the progiest prog album I've ever heard. Long tracks, a side-long track, odd rhythms, mindblowing subject matter, organs, horns (shredded, King Crimson-worthy horns, even), its got it all. Actually, though, its better than average. It knows how to use repeated themes to help you navigate the structures, knows how to control the pacing, has some mean hooks on it. The weakness, for me, is actually the lyrics, which is strange since I don't necessarily tend to focus on them. They come across as something like Pink Floyd, or Bowie at his most operatic, which isn't necessarily bad, but dates the proceedings. And actually, I've always struggled to see Pink Floyd as prog, but this kind of bridges the gap. I'm off in 3 different directions, but then maybe its just the review mimicking the music (as they surprisingly often do). Or I need to stay on target.
Ok, ok. I actually think that in the end its a win. Its an adventurous album that is toes the line of being too pretentious without quite crossing it. I like that 4/5
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