CIRCUS OF LIFE

I like a bit of Magic Pie. The 'meat' in this pie are tracks 3, 4 and 5. Excellent in melody, guitarwork, keyboards, vocals, depth and full of class. The dynamics are much like Transatlantic, later day Kaipa. Melody, some heavy rock guitars, keyboard atmospheres and perfect performances. After the intro, we're treated to a good instrumental, followed by the 'meat' and then another track which is almost instrumental due to the acapella vox. But it's really the mature lyrics and the combined vocal melodies that lift this stuff.

There are four vocalists, two of them seem to take most of the leads. One is more your David Gilmour restrained and melodic the other is your rock voice, which gives the music good variety and dynamics.

The lyrics show a weary wisdom, almost like father to son advice, mixed with hope and a positive outlook.

This is what can happen if a bunch of (older) musicians get together and bring their varying influences to the table. All of them do an excellent job, there's some tasty bass playing, great drums and diverse keyboards. The lead guitarist throws in some very tasty solos if you don't mind the occasional shred mixed in with your SteveHackett and David Gilmour.

The only thing that lets this album down is the closing track, which is a bit lack-lustre compared to the rest. Thing is, it's still an enjoyable song!

An excellent additon to any prog rock collection.