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YEAR ZERO
Track list: Year Zeroverture (4.45); Belt Up (3.48); Ever the Optimist (3.43); The Charlotte Suite (1.07); Haunted (4.21); Democracy (9.53); Baroque and Roll Dementia (2.26); A Deeper Understanding? (3.52); The
Jazz Suite (1.42); Take A Deep Breath and Hold On Tight (1.36); Hindsight 1 - Piano & Clarinet (2.14); Hindsight 2 - A Very Clever Guy Indeed (5.41); The September Suite (3.45); World Watching (2.26); Deceptive
Vistas /Postscript - Perspective (4.44).
'Year Zero' has been in the pipeline for some time for a variety of reasons - Galahad's last studio release was 'Following Ghosts' in 1998 and they have been working on this album on and off in the interim.
The band line-up here is the same as on 'Following Ghosts':- Roy Keyworth (guitars, bass), Stuart Nicholson (vocals), Spencer Luckman (drums, percussion), Dean Baker (Mellotron, piano, MiniMoog, bass pedals, synths)
and Neil Pepper (bass) who has since left the band. Also appearing are John Wetton (vocals), Sarah Quilter (flute, saxophone, clarinet, vocals) and a group of Cantori singers.
The fifteen tracks of music are arranged into one continuous piece although track markers make finding any particular song easy and the album opens with 'Year Zeroverture', an instrumental piece that starts with an
electronic sound, although guitar sounds soon break through giving the piece substance and an upbeat feel.
Sounds of thunder lie behind the angelic choir who introduce 'Belt Up'. A driving rhythm takes us through the rest of the track, supporting the clear voice of Stuart alongside John Wetton's growl.
Synth sounds open 'Ever the Optimist', a song with John Anderson inspired vocals - delicately layered above airy synth sounds.
The second part of the track is a warm and rich sounding, guitar led instrumental which leads into 'The Charlotte Suite' with its heavenly choir which gives way to a reprise of the guitar melody.
Next up we come to one of my favourite tracks from the album, 'Haunted'.
This starts quietly displaying Stuart's voice against a simple and subtle backdrop. This is soon superseded by a strong bass line (reminiscent of Bowie's 'Moonage Daydream') and augmented with some nice Hammond sounds giving a bluesy feel, while in the latter part of the track strong guitar work provides further embellishment after the vocals finish.
The almost ten minute long piece 'Democracy' is virtually an instrumental.
It opens with an upbeat electronic feel with a dance rhythm which gives way to a heavy drum and bass beat. This melts into a stirring orchestral section, and these metamorphoses continue throughout the track with eastern influences and spacey sounds, the music gently ebbing and flowing as the composition moves on.
Another instrumental comes next.
'Baroque and Roll Dementia' is a fast moving, upbeat track with a driving beat and a heavy feel. In contrast, 'A Deeper Understanding?' has rumbling synths leading towards the circling instrumentation which creates the ever changing sound patterns that support the light sounding vocal that belies the despairing lyric.
'The Jazz Suite' is a light instrumental with an easy listening air while 'Take A Deep Breath and Hold On Tight', another short piece - but this one reprises the verses from 'Belt Up' but with Stuart and John Wetton
singing different verses.
The delicate 'Hindsight 1 - Piano & Clarinet' has a semi-classical feel, it's a fine piece which segues into 'Hindsight 2 - A Very Clever Guy Indeed', a superb song which displays Stuart's voice well against the
smoothly moving instrumentation ... fabulous.
The last instrumental track, 'The September Suite', has a doom laden feel with deep bass sounds predominating through the earlier part, whereas rich organ tones move us into 'World Watching'.
This has an uplifting feel featuring Stuart's powerful vocals set above strong guitar work with sections of twiddly keyboards.
This edifying feel continues into the album's conclusion. 'Deceptive Vistas /Postscript - Perspective' with its heavy rhythm, embroidered with the sounds of the heavenly choirs, that accompanies the main vocal
line while at the end, Cantori choirs complete the piece with a serene feel.
This is an excellent album that incorporates many different styles of music, melding them into the track that is 'Year Zero'.
A must for all Galahad fans and a good introduction to those who have not yet introduced themselves ... recommended.
Marisa 11th September, 2002
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