TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER

4.5 stars.This album simply blew me away ! The band just seems much more focused on this one as the experimental and silly moments from the debut "Present From Nancy" are cut way back.There are so many uplifting moments on this record.

Things get started with "A Girl Named You" a jazzy uptempo song with organ, light drums and flute. Vocals come in 2 1/2 minutes in as tasteful flute melodies dominate. This is such an enjoyable song. "No Tree Will Grow" is even better and it starts off with an ominous intro. The vocals are fragile as they come in after a couple of minutes. The melody picks up to become a mid paced song with drums and piano leading the way. A great Canterbury song.

"Energy (Out Of Future)" opens with slowly pounding drums as some non-tasteful flute comes in (haha). The song speeds up with flute, drums and keys creating the melody.The sound 4 minutes in is incredible and I love the whimsical vocals as well. This song is 15 minutes long, and at 10 minutes the vocals get silly. Then we get some experimental sounds from eerie to spacey. Certainly the last 5 minutes of this song brought to mind some of the passages on their debut record. The final song "Higher" has such a great sound and the flute especially contributes to that. The vocals are well done and the drums are light. This is a catchy song that could have been a single.

This will definetly be near the top of my list for the best Canterbury album of all time.