OUT THERE

Really, really excellent. Totally unlike his earlier albums though, this one has an almost metal sound in places which surprised me. But it's still massively symphonic, with rich and complex musical passages. It's really driving and energetic at times; at others, eerie and sad. All the way through there's a feeling of exploration and new discovery. The opening and closing tracks are the most "symphonic" in length and complexity, but one of the best tracks next to these two is, to my mind anyway, is "To be With You", a haunting piece, which uses the choir to great effect.

The real let downs for this album are the repetition of some of the concepts, over and over in a song to the point of possible irritation - after hearing Damian Wilson sing something mystical about music and space/time roughly half a dozen times a minute, it got somewhat annoying. Which may just be me, and is probably just because he has the wrong voice - after all, I can listen to Jon Andersons mystic waffle for hours unpertubed. Or maybe it's just the timing - sometimes it feels a bit forced.

It's dedicated to the memory of the crew of the ill-fated Columbus shuttle which is nice, and a suitable musical epitapth for them.

So all in all, well worth getting for most people, even if you don't like Ricks more well known albums like "Myths and Legends" or "6 wives". Well deserving 4 stars.