FROM THE RIVER TO THE SEA

And here their music was fairly influenced by neo-prog band like IQ with strong cheesy pop roots, making the hearing of the album a bit annoying now because this music is very dated now and it just sounds boring and repetitive.

The production is bad, but I'm fine with that because it's a demo! The drums sound is especially poor, and some keyboards are also not very well integrated in the music. But Read's voice is fine, as always. He sang beautifully and with passion before he clearly lost his vocal abilities as we can hear later in Bard.

Best Tracks: To the Sea (I love the chorus!), Returning to the fold (another fine one), River (here the band shows a glimpse of the typical melancholic guitars that would make the band famous in the future) and Downhiling (an IQ influenced song with fine and strong guitars)

Conclusion: Big Big Train was very influenced by the neo-prog sound in the beginning. Therefore, I enjoy hearing this demo albums from time to time, along with their official debut Goodbye to the Age of Steam, which is an evolution of what we can hear in this From the River to the Sea and the posterior The Infant Hercules.

So, if you are a fan of Big Big Train check this one. Otherwise, don't bother with this demo because it's just neo-pop-prog with just a few glimpses of the true personality of this fine British group which was yet to be found.

My rating: **

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