RUPI'S DANCE

Rupi's Dance is Anderson's 4th solo album, following the wonderful Secret Language Of Birds by 3 years. It has many of the same wonderful ingredients and song structures of Secret Language, but also some new twists that aren't as successful. Mainly, the songs that follow the stripped down, quaint, and solo-ish songs found on the former album work well. The songs in which Anderson decided to go for bigger band arrangements do not. First, the acoustic based songs that succeed are the folky title track "Rupi's Dance", the up beat and infectious melodic album opener " Calliandra Shade", along with " A Week Of Moments" and "A Hand Of Thumbs". Less successful of the acoustic based songs are "Old Black Cat", "Photo Shop" and "Two Short Planks". The melodies and rhythms of these songs are pleasant enough, but lyrically, they fall way short of the standard that Anderson set for him self in the past.

What doesn't work at all are the solo acoustic and full band hybrid songs such as "I Get Lost In Crowds", with it's jarring electric guitar riffing choruses, and "A Raft Of Penguins", with it's forced orchestral string embellishments. The two instrumentals, "Eurorolgy" and "Griminelli's Lament" are trite and come off as album filler, even though Anderson may been enamored with them.

This is not a terrible album by any means, but Rupi's Dance falls short of the excellence displayed by it's predecessor. 2.5 stars rounded up to 3.