STRANGE NEW FLESH

A band of some of Britain's finest prog rock musicians has feet in rock, classic rock, and prog rock though they seem to be trying to exhibit their instrumental prowess as a power Jazz-Rock Fusion band.

1. "Dark Side of the Moog" (6:17) a song that has a bombastic, proggy side to it, probably thanks to composers and lead instrumentalists Gary Moore and Don Airy. I hear Patrick Moraz, Brand X, and Jan Hammer in this music: great musicianship but there's something a little off (forced) that is difficult to explain. (9/10)

2. "Down to You" (9:05) a cover of a Joni Mitchell song picked up by Gary Moore that Don Airey has amplified and embellished with his own Renaissance-like piano-and-acoustic-guitar mid-section. Mike Starrs' lead vocal gives it a Journey-like sound and feel though I hear some of Robert Plant's bluesyness in there as well. The overall sound palette and engineering style just feels more Prog Wannabe Classic Rock oriented than Jazz-Rock Fusion. (17.625/20)

3. "Gemini and Leo" (4:48) a song whose music feels more oriented to the funk sounds and styles of contemporary artists like Jan Hammer and Billy Cobham, but then Mike Starrs' Robert-Plant-like vocal enters and suddenly Gary Moore is a blues-rock guitarist. Don't get me wrong: There is great musicianship throughout (especially coming from drummer Jon Hiseman and funk keyboardist Don Airey), it's just that something feels a little too cringeworthy--as if we're hearing a kind of music that the Western World might (should) be rather embarrassed about. (8.75/10)

4. "Secret Places" (3:59) another song that feels cringeworthy: like a classic rock band covering a Bay City Rollers or Loverboy song. The bass, drums, and keyboard work are wonderful but the vocals and guitars are pure hair band rock. (8.6667/10)

5. "On Second Thoughts" (7:30) schlocky/syrupy electric piano supports a weird "muted" electric guitar sound soloing away for the first minute of this song before bass and drums enter to establish the slow, plaintive music to support Mike Starrs' Gino Vannelli/George Michael-like vocal on what feels like a take Norman Connors' "You Are My Starship" music. Great blues-proggy Classic Rock sound with pretty amazing super-nuanced musicianship from everyone involved--even Mike's multiple tracks. (13.5/15)

6. "Winds" (10:23) a song that comes across as something more akin to the music of GINO VANNELLI, VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR or American band BABYLON when Mike Starrs is singing, more like some supergroup when it's instrumental. The musicianship is so high quality that you find yourself feeling that this must certainly be an all-star conglomeration of Jazz-Rock Fusion artists, must certainly be a consortium of Southern Rock celebrities, must certainly be the finest gathering of Classic Rock musicians ever collected on one stage, and yet it's Colosseum II! Then it finishes with a vocal-led motif that feels as if taken straight off of Matthew Parmenter's great power epic from Unfolded Like Staircase, "The Storm" (or, rather, as if MP lifted the motif from this album for the most dramatic part of his song "The Storm"). I find myself loving this song more for it's amazing musicianship and overall feel than I find myself cringing from its schlocky excessive bombast. (18.25/20)

Total Time 42:02

The band definitely has the dynamic high-energy Mahavishnu/RTF thing going on but keyboardist Don Airey gives them a definite foothold in the prog element as well. Mike Starrs, however, anchors the band in the bluesy classic rock traditions more attuned to Led Zeppelin, Styx, and Journey. This album can only qualify as Jazz-Rock Fusion based upon the outstanding skills and jazzy instincts displayed by the musicians, while it is really not J-R Fusion so much as bluesy Classic Rock--a choice that is made self-evident by the presence and support of the use of singer Mike Starrs as one of the band's main tools of expression. I must add that I firmly hold drummer Jon Hiseman in the absolute highest esteem and keyboard player Don Airy and guitarist Gary Moore are right there with him--as is bassist Neil Murray--and Mike Starrs is certainly as talented and skilled as, say, the great Gino Vannelli--but together they have a quite enigmatic even nebulous identity.

B/four stars; an album of absolute highest-class musicianship whose song presentations feel like hodge-podge pieces from different puzzles glued together almost haphazardly and with multiple and disparate goals in mind. Being exposed to this album is definitely one of the strangest listening experiences I've ever had in my lifetime!

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