IN THE MEANTIME

Following 1999's An Outcast Of The Islands, Colin Bass released this second solo album in 2003. While the former was fairly described as a Crossover Prog album--mixing elements from Colin's day job in Camel (with Andy Latimer guesting on that album and all) with subtle World-Music influences--In The Meantime features a rather bland mixture of Folk Rock, Blues Rock, Jazz Rock, and Pop Rock, with hardly a single trace of anything progressive. Perhaps this could be compared to Steve Hackett's least progressive aspects, as Hackett too blended Folk-, Blues-, Jazz-, and Pop Rock, and the voice of Colin Bass is quite similar to that of Hackett. Needless to add, nothing here reminds even vaguely of Camel, and of course Latimer is not involved this time.

The quality of the song writing here is rather average, by no means embarrassingly bad or anything, just not memorable or in any way striking. Listening to this album is bearable, even occasionally pleasant, but it fails to leave any lasting impression on me. As such, it is a major let down after An Outcast Of The Islands. I am certain that fans of Camel and of progressive Rock in general are bound to feel the same about this album.

If you are curious about what Colin Bass has done outside of Camel, the aforementioned An Outcast Of the Islands and the live albums (one electric and one acoustic) he recorded for Polish radio when touring in support of that album are the releases to go for. In The Meantime is not a complete disaster or an utter embarrassment, but it is certainly an album only for hardcore fans and serious collectors. Fans of Camel and of progressive Rock can very safely pass by, you're not missing anything here!