|
|
UNSPOKEN WHISPER
Track list: Schoolyard Fantasy (8.07); Wolves at War (4.53); Childscream (7.19); Unspoken Whisper (10.23); Legend of the Old Man's Tree (4.28); Xymphonia (10.06); Heroes (7.53).
Flamborough Head are a five-piece band, who formed in Holland around 1995. 'Unspoken Whisper', their debut album, was recorded in the period March to October 1997, and released on Malcolm Parker's Cyclops label the
following year. As a band they fit comfortably into the progressive rock category, and listening to this CD, it is easy to spot some of the bands who must have influenced their work.
The overall sound is very melodic, with emphasis on keyboards and guitar. Of the seven tracks on the CD, three are purely instrumental pieces, although all the tracks tend to give the two keyboard players and
the guitarist ample space to show off their talents.
Siebe-Rein Schaaf's vocals have a tendency to suffer from a strong continental accent which, at times, can seem a little jarring but that having been said, the sound of his voice is pleasant enough.
'Schoolyard Fantasy' opens with the happy sound of children's voices - the drums and guitar cut in, with a darker melancholy feeling that contrast strongly with what has come before.
The initial feel of the song is reminiscent of some of the Scorpions' material, especially from the vocal angle, but it is none the worse for that; however, from the point of view of lyrical content, this is a weak number although some compensation for this is offered by the excellent guitar work. 'Wolves of War' is the first instrumental number on the CD, it has a heavy keyboard orientation, but still makes room for some strong guitar work throughout - at 4:53, it is one of the shorter tracks on the album, but it seems to have achieved a balance of length and content that is missing in some of the other pieces.
'Childscream' is another song from the same mould as track one, pleasant to listen to, a good solid performance from keyboard and guitars, but nothing essentially different about it! This is followed by the
title track of the album, 'Unspoken Whisper', which is one of my two favourite tracks: a nice piano-style opening leads us into the main vocal section, and reemerges at points throughout the track; at the same time,
a strong undercurrent of synthesiser sounds flow along, in the background, adding to the ambiance - then the tempo suddenly seems to pick up, the rhythm section becomes more apparent, and we are led into a very
melodic keyboard section with some inspired guitar overlays.
'Legend of the Old Man's Tree' is another short instrumental piece. It has a quite discordant feel to it, out of keeping with the more melodic sound that have preceded it. To be honest this is a track
that seems to lack any real underlying direction or purpose and, although competent enough in its way, perhaps should have been left off the album.
'Xymphonia' is another track with a wonderful introduction, the first two minutes of instrumental could (nay should) have been a track in their own right: the keyboard sound has a beautiful, restful quality to it as the melody is played out, then the pace picks up as the song gets under way. When the vocals first cut in they seem to be obtrusive and detract from the mood that has been created, in some ways it is a shame that the track did not remain an instrumental, for in this area it runs from strength to strength, building layer upon musical layer that is slightly spoilt only at the very end, when the song finishes with a fade out rather than the anticipated crescendo.
'Heroes' is the final track, another instrumental, if any of the songs on this CD could be targeted with the label 'derivative' then this is the one - but don't misunderstand me; this is my favourite track of all!
Derivative it may be but, at the same time, it is played with such style and enjoyment that I am left thinking "So what if it is!". This is neo-prog at its very best, where keyboards, drums and guitar blend together into a mosaic of fast moving sound!
Although sometimes lacking in originality, Flamborough Head have put together an excellent first outing. However, they need to develop a sound which is more distinctly their own for their next offering. Despite
that, 'Unspoken Whisper' is both well played and well produced and, even if the material is not ground breaking stuff, it is most definitely worth a listen.
Simon 21 August 1999
|
|
|
|
DEFINING THE LEGACY
Track list: Defining the Legacy (11.15); House of Cards (9.16); Garden of Dreams (12.35); Assassin (9.07); Impulse (11.17); Bridge to the Promised Land (6.37); Mind-Sculpture (7.58)
Three years after recording their debut album, 'Unspoken Whisper', Flamborough Head are back with their follow up, 'Defining the Legacy'.
This release marks the end of an era for them as after five years of playing together both vocalist Siebe-Rein-Schaaf and Andre Cents have announced that they are to leave later this year.
As with their earlier outing, the music makes no false claims and still shows its influences quite clearly at times.
However the sound has certainly progressed and is generally better developed than before. The song writing is still geared towards powerful melodies with strong instrumentation, and both keyboard and guitar work are skillfully delivered. The main emphasis tends to be biased towards the keyboard parts - there are two keyboard players after all - and although a little more dominance from the guitar sound would not have gone amiss, Andre Cents certainly shines when given the chance.
So that's the good news - now let's get the grumbles out of the way before looking at the featured tracks. The album apparently tells the story of the relationship between father and son - I fear it cannot have
been a very good one though, as much of the lyrical content is often confrontational and the writing is somewhat on the weak side. Another problem I found is the decision to include the occasional expletive
(on the track 'Impulse').
This struck me as totally unwarranted and means that responsible listeners will not want to play certain tracks while children are around. It's a pity that the band felt it necessary to go down this route as it buys them nothing.
Still enough of that - let's take look at the album content.
The title track, 'Defining the Legacy', gets things nicely underway with a soft piano / vocal arrangement, initially accompanied by flute sounds and then joined by gentle acoustic guitar work. Later the keyboard sound starts to come across more heavily and the drums and guitar work together to create a much fuller sound. There is nothing really ground breaking in the this track, it is all fairly familiar stuff, typical of the genre, but despite that a very good opener.
'House of Cards' and 'Garden of Dreams' are blended together without any obvious join and can be considered as something of a single epic, running together for over twenty minutes. The instrumental opening
section is immediately striking and has powerful emotional overtones as the keyboards rise and fall, while percussion and bass offer great support. An insistent repeating piano pattern heralds the arrival of a
much heavier passage, and from here on the music seems to brilliantly switch between contrasting moods and changes in tempo, and this is certainly some of the best material I have yet heard from the band.
'Garden of Dreams' continues in much the same manner and, after launching with a very upbeat keyboard run, Andre Cents gets to put in some great guitar playing. Again there are a number of aspects of the track that are very derivative, particularly in relation to the keyboard sound, but the overall result is so invigorating this scarcely seems to matter.
'Assassin' starts by displaying a dark brooding mood and the opening vocals undergo some nice distortion effects. Initially the tone of the track is both disturbed and disturbing and, with the heavy guitar, the
band come close to achieving an almost prog metal feel.
Just when you think you have a handle on the direction the track is heading the keyboards cut in and change the mood altogether and, although the music never really lightens up again completely, the impetus of what might have been achieved is lost. Don't get me wrong though - this is another good track that grows on you with time.
I found 'Impulse' to be something of an oddity. It begins with superb up tempo keyboard and guitar work that are powered along with lively drumming and bass work and although, once again, some of the keyboard
work is a little cliched it's all good stuff. Then three minutes into the track the direction changes suddenly as heavy guitar riffs cut in and an almost metal sound takes over. Later the track reverts
back to the opening theme and I was left with a feeling that one song had been levered into the middle of another for no good reason other than to create a long track. The piece features some great ideas, but
I felt it was not as well constructed as it might have been.
At 6'37, 'Bridge to the Promised Land' is the shortest track on the album, but is also my favourite. The song has an inspired orchestral opening, preceded by the sounds of the musicians warming up (which is a
superb touch).
This approach continues through the track as the band and the orchestra play together and create some beautifully stirring music. Once more Andre Cents has a chance to develop a short but haunting guitar solo that forms the climax of the piece. As the music fades away we are greeted by the sound of the audience applauding the performance.
Finally we come to the only purely instrumental track on the album with 'Mind Sculpture'. This creates a fittingly powerful end piece and as Andre Cents plays his final, and somewhat moving, guitar section he
has defined his own legacy to the band's history.
All in all I consider that Flamborough Head have created a very good album, which while suffering from a lyrical point of view compensates well for its shortcomings with strong musical content. Production is
also crisp.
Clearly these guys are good at what they do, however I feel they still have a way to go before they deliver a sound which can be said to be truly their own. With line up changes on the horizon I am eager to see whether this can be achieved next time around. In the meantime, this is a dependable offering which should be well received, especially by fans of keyboard oriented neo-prog.
Simon - 1st November 2000
|
|
|
|
ONE FOR THE CROW
Track list: One For the Crow (12.00); Old Shoes (13.13); Separate (1.39); Daydreams (6.18); Nightlife (10.06); Old Forest (2.45); Limestone Rock (9.59); New Shoes (2.14).
'One for the Crow' represents album number three for the Dutch band Flamborough Head. In my previous reviews of their work I have been a little uneasy over the fact that they have needed to define a
sound and feel of there own but, with the changes in personnel now in place, I believe that the band have finally taken a huge step forward.
The most obvious difference to the lineup is the addition of vocalist Margriet Boomsma to the ranks. She has a really good voice, which is clear and sharp, and proves to be a real asset. Not only does she
engender a new and welcome change in terms of vocal direction, but her use of flute and recorders also adds a 70's progressive dimension to the sound (along the lines of bands like Gnidrolog).
Also new to the lineup is guitarist Eddie Mulder who takes over from Andre Cents - Eddie's playing is superb throughout. Both new members also appear to have had significant input into the song writing for this
new album. The remainder of the lineup is unchanged, with the three founder members; Marcel Derix (bass), Koen Roozen (drums) and Edo Spanning (keyboards) still on board.
Musically I found 'One For the Crow' to be well constructed and full of rich tones, while generally it is far more mature than the previous albums.
The music, while not dispensing with the past, also seems to take the first tentative step away from the rather cliche'd neo-prog style - which I found refreshing. There are still clear influences to be found in the music, but on the whole the sound has moved into a more rock-oriented base which should stand the band in good stead among the wider community.
The title track, 'One For the Crow', provides a really strong opening number and allows the two new members to show their song writing hand. The name of the piece comes from an old country adage relating to
sowing corn (one for the blackbird, one for the crow, one to rot and one too grow), and this theme is worked nicely into the song lyrics which are well written and provoke thought on a number of levels.
Margriet Boomsma's delivery is really superb, she sings with clear tones that carry the mood of the lyrics perfectly and I found her voice a real delight to listen to.
The music itself provides delicate combinations of light and dark passages, with many uplifting instrumental sections where the guitar really sweeps everything along. There is a real sense of old meets new in this song and, in terms of comparison, I'd have to say it's almost like Procol Harum meets Janison Edge -- great opener ... great song!
'Old Shoes' follows in a slightly more neo-prog vein, with the usual twiddly keyboard sounds which, while sounding rather old hat now, are great fun to listen to.
Even here there is an attention to detail that seemed to be lacking from the band's earlier work and the use of piano passages and the inclusion of flute work from Margriet adds to the mood of the piece. This is played with a sense of conviction and again the lyrics are well written, adding to the appeal of the song.
Two instrumentals follow; both of them penned by new guitarist Ed Mulder. The first of these, 'Separate', is a relaxed and gentle piece which provides a good contrast to the two opening tracks.
It is played predominantly on the acoustic guitar with some keyboard input.
Following on from this comes 'Daydreams', which although it starts at the same slow tempo soon picks up.
Eddie Mulder plays out some marvellous, yet understated guitar work which keeps things rolling majestically along, and this is interspersed with more melancholic flute sounds. Toward the end of the track comes a slow break, with acoustic guitar and recorder, which has a renaissance style not dissimilar to the music played by Blackmore's Night.
'Nightlife' is another number that I found very
reminiscent of Janison Edge, but this time with hints of Renaissance. Once again I was struck by Margriet's vocal style, which really carries the song along in atmospheric fashion. This is essentially a track that has as much to do with the soft end of the rock spectrum as it does to progressive music and, as such, it works very well indeed. It is fairly gentle, once again making nice use of piano sounds, the guitar and keyboard play along in restrained mood, while bass and percussion work solidly to drive things along.
'Old Forest' is another purely instrumental number, again penned by guitarist Eddie Mulder, in which he plays sensitive and soft electric guitar sound. The use of the flute here adds to the relaxed mood, making
for a very ambient and atmospheric piece.
Next up is 'Limestone Rock' which irritatingly seems to have borrowed a bit of King Crimson - you keep finding yourself anticipating the wrong tune - but all the same, this is a solid number with strong changes
in mood and tempo, and it is also one that manages to stay fresh and interesting throughout.
Finally, bringing things to a close, is 'New Shoes', a gentle instrumental piece divided into two short sections: 'Old Shoes - Reprise' and 'Pure - 16th June'.
The acoustic guitar work is as ever relaxed and well played, but I cannot help feeling the band missed a trick here by not ending on a stronger number.
For me this is by far Flamborough Head's strongest work to date, and it is one that is likely to appeal to a far wider audience than the band's earlier works.
There is life beyond the narrow confines of neo-prog keyboard based sound, and Flamborough Head seem to have at last found a real sense of purpose and proved the point with this album.
Simon 24th July 2002
|
|
