![]() Sung by Finally George it fuses solid rock and sparkling keyboards into an excellent circling jazz/prog formation. In the entertaining mood-swinging variety of Shadowplay everyone from the squad gets their chance to shine their artistic flair, creating a colourful collage in the process. Surrounded by soulful play and radiant flashes of Toto, the composition grows in intensity before finally lands in an oasis of emotive guitars. A groovy middle section swings endlessly with twinkles of Genesis and Yes, before Rothery lays down a majestic solo in best Season's End tradition.Ĭoast Cards sees smooth operator Us firmly steer us into sultry jazz realms, whilst vocalist Liza adds an emotional performance reminiscent to Sade. With a wonderful solo by Rothery, this is precisely the sort of music that sees me going back for more.Ī change of drummers to Sucherman sees a change of pace in Heaven Must Know, navigating in smooth jazz and featuring standout bass play and subdued instrumentation. Ghosts Of The Ocean then soars through a variety of carefully arranged symphonic atmospheres and is beautifully sung by Mitchell. The crystalline sound splashes right out of the boxes and with the rhythmic tightness of Minneman and Lars Slowak (bass), one is fully embraced by a delicate summer breeze. ![]() The first two compositions are co-written by Us and Mitchell and the catchy pop melodies and a dash of uplifting New Wave, instantly targets towards It Bites. Top marks for Frank Us' clear vision, in choosing who plays what on which track. Minneman's demanding contributions are not far behind, expressing more directness and showcasing a tightly administered drive. Flown in from around the globe are Marco Minneman ( The Aristocrats, Whatnot), Todd Sucherman ( Styx), John Mitchell ( It Bites, Lonely Robot), Eric Gillette ( NMB, Trytan), Jake Livgren ( Proto-Kaw and nephew to Kerry Livgren of Kansas fame) and Pete Trewavas and Steve Rothery from Marillion to name but a few.Īnd some of these musicians exceeded my expectations especially the stunning performance of Sucherman, who over the four tracks he's involved in, gives a level of warmth, feel, grooving subtlety and elegant precision that's simply amazing, especially in The Compendium Of Life. One glance at the other well-known participants quickly filled my inner sound-system with high anticipation. In the same way as Stefan, I too had not heard of independent superconductor Frank Us (keys, guitars, lead and background vocals, bass). It hits all the right spots on many levels, some of which have already been described in Stefan Hennig's review of their second album Aviation. ![]() The reasons are plenty, one of which is that these are almost sold out, but the most significant one is the incredibly beautiful music that it captures. This has happened with some regularity these past few years and The Penrose Triangle by Legacy Pilots is the most recent one that has massaged me into securing previous albums. You instinctively know that you're in trouble when with each spin of an album you're gently reminded to do a "must-buy-more" on Bandcamp.
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