NATURAL SELECTION

I've long considered this the best Progressive Rock album of the 90's. It's rare for a band to compose songs of lengths over 10 minutes which feel natural and keep the interest of the listener. Lands End's music has that natural development feel to the songs. None of the changes ever feel forced or unnatural, each section flows into the next making the song, and indeed the album, as a whole absolutely perfect. The Pink Floyd influcence is evident, but that's not a bad thing. Boring ambient spacy jams directed towards LSD partaking morons this isn't. All of the musicians in this band work brilliantly together, the symphonic keyboard playing of Fred Hunter, with all the textured sounds and layers of beautiful backing for guitarist Francisco Neto to play beautiful riffs and wonderful well thought out solos over, meanwhile the inventive drumming of Mark Lavallee fills all the spaces without being overbearing. There's a certain swing to the playing that is missing in a lot of Progressive rock, the musicianship is at once very tight but with a looseness that lets the music breathe, unlike some artists who are so cold and calculated that everything sounds like it was played by a computer. Jeff McFarland's soft, breathy vocals are the perfect compliment to the wonderful sounds found within. I highly recommend this album.