STEP AHEAD

This certainly has a strong element of neo-prog, but the music packs more ideas and changes of dynamics and tempo within the songs than most neo-prog does, only one song I'd call overly repetitive. The guitarist is the songwriter and his (nearly always electric) instrument dominates more than the keys. I detect a fairly strong Camel influence in many of the guitar passages, both in atmospheric sections and in more melodic rocking sections. Other times he leans in a somewhat wankery-rock direction. The drummer is not quite first rate, as shown especially in busier sections, not quite tight as it should be. The singer is decent, in the lower tenor range, he rarely try to sing beyond his range, a plus.

- The lyrics to me are a problem; they seem to deal with 'a singer' who has something to offer a corrupt world, but the people don't understand him. This, quite soon, leads him to cynicism. Thus, what's portrayed is mostly a world of little joy or meaning in which 'the singer' too has little to offer that is genuine, and serves as but a angry and disappointed reflection of what might have been. (There IS a 'White Lady'. Redemptive? No she comes too late. "His eyes were empty, they couldn't feel anymore. From errors of times past, he couldn't go on.....") - The original studio album lasts just under 40:00, bonus live material about 26:00. The sound quality of the live tracks is about that of a decent bootleg.