WAR AND PEACE & OTHER SHORT STORIES

More often than not, I may not like an album on the first listen. Very rarely does a CD immediately grab my attention and hold me musically mesmerized. But that was definitely the case with "War and Peace & Other Short Stories."

I do most of my listening while commuting to and from work. I had ordered the "War and Peace" CD after hearing the cut "Learn How to Learn" on AiiRadio. It was soon waiting for me in the mailbox at the foot of our lane when I came home from work late one Friday night. I popped it in the CD player and by the time I pulled into our driveway I was hooked. I stayed in the car, motor running, until I had listened to the entire CD. I've been listening to it at least daily in the weeks since.

Sean Filkin's talents as a versatile musician and composer may only be exceeded by his abilities as a poet. The stories indicated in the title are masterfully crafted: The eccentric looking back at his life regretting the mistakes he made; the soldier and the "ordinary man" each wrestling with his conscience, each for different reasons. But by far, the most touching is "Epitaph for a Mariner," the story of William Pull, Filkin's Great Grandfather, who was called away from the birth of his daughter to rescue the crew of a ship foundering on the Margate Rocks, a tragedy compounded when Pull's boat capsized with the loss of nearly its entire crew.

But a CD is about the music. Sean Filkins has one of those voices that is instantly recognizable. There is none other quite like it, and that is meant as a complement. The supporting musicians, Lee Abraham, John Sammes, Gerald Mulligan, Dave Meros and the rest are masterful. I could find nothing in "War an Peace & Other Short Stories" that reminded me of anyone else. The composition, the music, the lyrics are all uniquely Sean Filkins and I hope there is much more of the same still coming. This CD shot instantly to the top of my personal music charts and has remained there for weeks. It may be cliched, but there really is something here for everyone, Prog fan or not.