CORVUS STONE II

This is a much more mature and cohesive band effort than CS's debut album--with an entertaining (and often humorous!) concept entwining the collective of 16 songs. These very skilled musicians are showing a greater familiarity with each other and nice collaborative blend in their music than on their previous effort (in which many of the songs seemed contrived to give more flash and shine to individuals and to solos). The brief instrumental interludes between some of the longer songs are nice. My only complaint with this album is that when the occasional all-out rock song ("Purple Stone") or passage rears its head it takes the feel of the album, in my opinion, away from that of progressive rock and instead into a more "classic" "southern" rock zone. Once again I have to single out axeman Colin Tench: the man can play! And he seems to be a master of any style he chooses! Check out "Uncle Schunkle" to get a little taste of what I mean. It's like hearing Alvin Lee, Jeff Beck and Buddy Guy all in one! An astounding listening experience.

Album highlights: "Boots for Hire" (8:58) with its excellent keyboard guitar weaves, Krautrock rhythm lines, and excellent raspy vocal (kudos Staf Flaming) (9/10); the upbeat Santana-like "Scandinavians in Mexico" (5:06) (8/10); "Camelus Bactrianus" (8:42) (9/10); the extraordinary "Eternal Universe" (3:52) (10/10); the epic "Moaning Lisa" (14:08) (which feels like a tango in disguise as a waltz and has a delightfully unpredictable uptempo instrumental midsection) (8/10), and; the album's brief intro and outro. Nice variety of male vocalists--ALL quite good! Top notch recording and mixing (much better than on CSI) Kudos, Corvus Stone! You guys are gelling so well! Next album, I expect, will be your masterpiece.

4.5 stars, rated down for lack of convincing and cohesive stylistic flow within a 'concept' album.