GATHERING SPEED

There's a strong overlap in personnel between this and earlier Big Big Train releases - Greg Spawton and Andy Poole remain the core of the band, Ian Cooper is still on keys (though this would be his final album in the position), and Steve Hughes is back after not being able to contribute to the sessions for Bard. (Then again, I think most of the band would have preferred not to be on Bard - it's not an album they are proud of, and they were left extremely discouraged after its release and even made noises about packing it in - it's no surprise that they've not reissued it.)

In short, Big Big Train here are almost the same band as the one that made their classic debut, Goodbye to the Age of Steam - the major distinction is that Sean Filkins is on vocals, replacing Martin Read (whose vocals on Bard constitute either a misjudged affectation or evidence of Martin badly needing to step away and recover). Despite this, it really feels like that Gathering Speed heralds the dawn of a new band - Big Big Train Mk II, if you will - from the ashes of the old.

The previous sound of Big Big Train I'd personally describe as a 1990s take on neo-prog - taking similar influences that the neo-prog bands of the 1980s did, but updating them using the sort of sounds common among indie rock of the 1990s instead of applying the sort of production and presentation updates which the 1980s neo-prog bands did. The proportions varied - Goodbye To the Age of Steam leaned a little less on those indie rock influences, English Boy Wonders leaned a little more, Bard kind of didn't know what the hell it was doing - but they remained present.

For the new Big Big Train sound, I'd say they've shifted gear to a more unambiguously nostalgic prog mode, with the influences of the bands of the 1970s more prominent in their sound and little to none of the indie rock influences that had crept in previously. One wonders whether Martin Read was responsible for the latter, since his voice - when it was on form - seemed particularly suited to that blend.

So what does that add up to in practice? Well, take the sound of classic Genesis, subtract Peter Gabriel (and therefore make it a few notches less whimsical), but keep Anthony Phillips (and therefore let the folkier side of Trespass stay intact). Then give them much more modern production standards and keyboards, simmer them in a little Pink Floyd (think the more mellow tracks on Meddle), and maybe tweak the folk dial up another notch, to add in more acoustic guitar and even a touch of harmonica here and there.

It's without question a bit of a gear shift from what they were doing previously, but the band would be the first to admit that what they were doing on Bard wasn't working. It's also got a bit of a hopeful title: it'd certainly be ironic if, far from "Gathering Stream", Big Big Train were ploughing further into the rut they'd landed in during Bard. That said, in this case their optimism was justified - it's simply a better album than its predecessor, amply justifying their decision to steer away from the direction they'd be going in, and is at least as good as English Boy Wonders despite the significant pivot in their sound.