DO YOU DREAM OF LUMINOUS THINGS?

An album and artist I'd never heard of until my friend Thomas posted his shining review last week. I've been sitting with Jamie, trying to let his music permeate my being since then. While my impression is favorable--the gent definitely has a rare gift of the bard--but the music does not always tickle my particular pleasure preference centers.

1. "The Radient" (17:39) the first seven minutes of this epic feel like some of ROGER WATERS' angry-old-many, Hammond organ-dominated blues rock/prog lite--even Jamie's vocals have the winey sound of a stuck-in-the- Seventies old curmudgeon. The next section contains a decent synth solo before the music turns sickeningly-sweet at the 8:30 mark with two tear-jerking minor chords being arpeggiated by an untreated Harold Budd-like piano. This is then joined by prog 101 instruments like 'Tron for an Andrew Marshall (Willowglass)-like Prog Lite section that, fortunately, leads into a tension-filled section in the tenth and eleventh minutes in which multiple divergent minor key tracks all played concurrently elevate the music into higher realms of prog sophistication (finally). At the 12-minute mark, however, a series of rock power chords signal a change. Pause. Wait for it! The sun comes out with a gentle, soothing motif--complete with requisite smooth alto saxophone and gentle electric guitar note play. The momentum seem to flounder for the next couple minutes, wandering this way and that with some teasers before settling into a 70s rock motif over which Jamie delivers a power rock vocal for a minute before backing off for a minute of distorted guitar chord picking and strumming with female background vocals singing "There is no power here" and "Is this punishment" before the Who-like power rock motif returns for Jamie's big finish--both Pete Townsend vocally and Pete Townsend guitar soloing. Other than the minute or less of tension in the twelfth minute, I really don't like this song very much at all: it's far less prog rock than angry WHO-like power rock. (30.625/35)

2. "How I Caught The Moon" (8:31) an exceedingly compelling song much in the same way that 1970s PINK FLOYD songs were: catchy and simple yet every note, every drum beat, every melody and chord, every syllable of the vocal lyric imploring the listener to hear its presence, feel its inherent power, know its full beauty. A gift to music! (19.5/20)

3. "Steeped In Burning Flowers" (5:22) more steeped in old rock with its simple structure of power guitar chords and assertive Hammond organ, Jamie's voice reminds me of a combination of Guy Manning with the power delivery of a young PETE TOWNSEND: his singing (and lyrics) impossible to ignore, begging you to be heard with an unrelenting urgency. (9/10)

4. "A Place I Can Disappear" (7:09) a spoken poetic story read/recited by (I assume) Molly Waters. She is sparsely- backed by some guitar notes and slowly arpeggiated chords until the second half of the third minute when the full band kicks in with a nice FLOYDIAN motif with synths and guitars providing some interesting melodic work over quite a good, insistent rhythm track (great drumming from Rick Veall), which then all steps back at 5:20 to leave us with Molly finishing the story with the same ambient synths-and-guitar motif that got us started. Fascinating! The song reminds me a lot, start to finish, of ANNE CLARK's albums of poetry readings set to music back in the 1980s. Nice finish with the ghost-like male voice singing plaintively from a "distance." (13.75/15)

5. "Waking In The Land Of Giants" (14:47) opening with 35-seconds of theatric space radio dialogue before the band launches into a fast-paced two-step Country-Rock motif. At 1:30 the music stops and Jamie starts a BON JOVI-like rock ballad section. It's good though it does feel so familiar and derivative. Jamie does have a way of wording things--and his super power is the way he can convey "importance" through his powerful vocal delivery. Molly Hackett's background vocal is quite nice--quite well arranged and rendered--and the succeeding MOODY BLUES-like Mellotron and flute passage is nice as well. At 4:40 single hi-hat syncopation and two arpeggiated bass chords start up a spacious Western Rock passage to which electric guitar and distant flute join in before Jamie's anguished Jim Morrison-like vocal also joins in. As Jamie's vocal peaks the full band returns to support a South-of-the-Border saxophone solo set within the same two-chord vamp. Key and chord change at the eight minute mark with the addition/amplification of a couple new guitar sounds helps finish off the sax solo and usher in the electric guitar rock solo. At 9:00 the music bottoms out again for Jamie to rejoin with his pleading vocal before backing away for the two- chord bass-and-guitar arpeggio motif to return (in variation). But then at 9:50 the band launches back into a Country Two-Step while synths and guitars vie for attention in their respective lanes (tracks). Yet another motif change at 10:50, this time into another Tex-Mex motif, this one laid back and flute-led--like a Yacht Rock song to hear while sitting next to your motel pool. This lasts until 12:36 when a slow down signals another shift, this time into an insidious Southern rock romp through the countryside while the throes of an alien invasion is being broadcast through the car radio. Looks like they didn't make it. Some parts are enjoyable; much of it is interesting--especially for the consistency with regards to the SW American themes and palettes, but also for the herky-jerky, ever-changing song construction, but, in the end this is not much to write home about. (26.375/30)

6. "A Grief That Does Not Speak" (12:35) another fairly straightforward song that reminds me a lot of the music from GUY MANNING's solo releases from the Naughties. It's solid and well-rendered but, in the end, rather unmemorable. Two-chord sax-and-gravelly voice rock is what I hear pretty much from start to finish. (22/25)

Total Time 66:03

Interesting how one artist can excel at longer, epic-length song presentations while others fail at making them sophisticated or compelling enough to hold the listener's attention (and respect). On this album Jamie Parker demonstrates that he is one of the latter. While his vocals are often quite spellbinding--his lyrics, too--the music, sound palette and construction, and stylistic choices often leave one scratching one's head (even cringing a bit-- not unlike the effect that post-PINK FLOYD Roger Waters' music has on me). Too bad cuz the three "shorter" songs show a lot of talent and promise. This is definitely an artist whose future releases will be quick for me to pick up and study.

B+/4.5 stars; an excellent near-masterpiece of rock-oriented prog. Recommended for lovers of Guy Manning, Roger Waters, The Who, and Bon Jovi.

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