CEILING UNLIMITED

Ceiling Unlimited is a relatively new band to the prog rock scene, with this, their debut album, being released earlier the year of writing. The band was gracious enough to provide me with a copy of their release - a limited edition copy, nonetheless, with a sticker indicating that my copy is #61/100. As such, it is with a certain level of regret that I must award this album a relatively low score.

The music contained herein fits easily in the prog/pop vein, being driven by a pretty standard prog lineup of guitar/bass/drums/keys/vocals with some minor variation (two members of the band handle the guitar, two the vocals, and two the keys). We are gifted with the bluesy vocals of Amy King and Nancy Scorcia. The dual vocal attack is definitely one of the features that gives Ceiling Unlimited a unique sound, giving the band a country feel the odd time and a bluesy feel the rest of the time.

When the band is playing a song where they really get to rock out, I find myself really enjoying the music. There is a strong chemistry that is evident between the members of the band, and from the first moments of the opening track, As The Clouds Drift By, one gets the feeling that these guys would be killer to see live. Even though the chorus is nothing amazing lyric-wise, I still feel the fire to belt it out as I listen. Deja Vu is another track that really demonstrates the energy that this band share with each other, and I find that I enjoy the sound of it even more than As The Clouds Drift By. There are a couple other nice surprises on this album - the guest saxophone of Carl Shillito on Sideshow give it something of a Supertramp vibe that I enjoy.

Overall, the music is almost all melodic, and most songs have a catchy chorus or verse to stick around in your head, although in several cases the songs do outlast their interest by a small amount.

The band also has a somewhat positive outlook on life, that could be likened to bands such as Yes or The Flower Kings, with many tracks discussing the positiveness of love, or the heartfelt optimism of the closing track that shares the same name with the band and the album.

Unfortunately, this album suffers from two weak points, and it is these week points that make listening to this album less enjoyable than the highlights of the album suggest it could be. The first of these are the lyrics - in no case are they particularly clever or even interesting, and in some cases they sound somewhat cheesy. This is true in all the tracks mentioned above. Some stronger lyrics would really add some extra punch to the music.

The other area where I find this album suffers are in the songs that don't rock as much. Cross my Heart is perhaps the worst example of this, but I find myself feeling bored by the song before the halfway point. It's one of the rare cases where I actually skip a song in the middle of an album. The band makes an honest attempt at creating more ballad-like music (and the piano is very pretty), but it just doesn't gel the way the more energetic pieces do. I also find the vocals don't sound quite as good in this type of track as they do on the more upbeat ones.

As the band continues to grow and mature together, and hones their song-crafting skills, I anticipate that they will release some very well received prog-pop music. In the meantime, this album demonstrates that the band has a lot of potential, if they haven't yet hit their stride.