NIGHT

By the time this 4th album by Gazpacho was released, the band had produced three earlier ones and trusting the averages on our site (I don't know any of these three myself) the three predecessors were only average in quality.

This 4th release is a different story according to a significant number of raters/reviewers. For me personally it's quite a different matter only explainable by difference in taste I guess. When I play this album I indeed hear above average music but my dislike for Hogarth era Marillion combined with huge similarity between this Marillion and Gazpacho cause a low appreciation by me I'm afraid. The music is quite slow and with little energy, well let's just spell it out: pretty dull I'm afraid. I will be hurting some feelings with this statement I fear but again: I'm just a minority and it's just my opinion. This music makes me yawn a bit until ..... yes, indeed until last track Massive Illusion takes its turn. Suddenly it's a total different ball game for me. What a fantastic song this is. The violin is absolutely stunning and mesmerizing.

I wish this album would have contained more special songs like this one (ok, the opening track Dream of Stone has a bit of violin as well but only for a minute) and then I would have joined the long line up of 4 star raters without hesitation. As it is, this one song can't save the album for me. But it does save it from a deadly 2 star conclusion I had in mind after the first 4 songs and lifts the album to three stars for my taste. Like I said, Marillion (Hogarth) fans who don't know Gazpacho yet should certainly check this album out. Perhaps Radiohead and Pineapple Thief fans could do that too. But if you like your music spicy and energetic, leave it.