HAND. CANNOT. ERASE.

I received my copy of Hand. Cannot. Erase yesterday morning, and am seriously impressed as always with the format I ordered, being the digipack edition with DVD Documentry etc. A nice solid item that you come to expect from SW/PT albums of late, with great artwork and album info. The documentary is nothing amazing and would not stand up to be sold separately, but is very interesting all the same, and the perfect accompaniment for the album. I would definitely recommend purchasing this version.

On to the album! - There is little point in covering the history of the album, or a track by track review, due to this being covered by others. So I will try to summarise with an overall opinion. I found myself being pleasantly surprised by this album, which occasionally steps away from the familiar often 'dark' SW sound. That is not a negative take on Steven's past work, and I genuinely love it all, however I have been hoping for a while to hear some older PT electronica sounds in the mix, and here I got it! Hand Cannot Erase delivers quite a mixture of styles, with elements of various points in Steven's career as an increasingly rewarded musician, plus some extra suprises such as the addition of female vocals on a couple of tracks. After four listens from start to finish, I find this a good solid album, with many strong moments and in places a step away from more recent albums. Five stars may be a little generous in the way that I would never place it in the same category as other 'essential masterpieces of progressive rock'. This is no Dark side of the moon - but a truly excellent album from start to finish all the same.

4 stars. Well done SW!