THREE CHEERS FOR THE BROKEN-HEARTED

This album seems to have really rubbed a lot of people up the wrong way! Glass Hammer don't make symphonic prog album shock ..the end of the world is nigh. I guess my own tastes vary quite a bit and I've always liked a good melody and don't mind a bit of ''pop'' ,although this is not really pop music. Its very dark in places and weirdly varies between sixties sounding pop music and a modern hard edged almost metallic prog sound. Distinctly odd although the word I would prefer is 'quirky'. The main feature is Susie Bogdanowicz's vocals. I like female vocals especially the likes of Chrissie, Annie ,(and Jon and Geddy ha ha) so this is very pleasant to my ears. I also like the variety of music on offer. If you do short tracks make them interesting and these are all very nicely different.

I decided to give this 5 stars just to raise the average rating which seems a bit low although I realise this is a prog site (we hope) and that the lack of long complex peices will not appeal to most. However I prefer this release to the album that followed 'If'. I suspect there was a knee jerk reaction and GH decided they needed to appease the fanbase. In the process they ditched the delicacy and lightness of touch that always exised for a cold technical approach. Shame really from my point of view. This could well be the last GH album that I get to love and enjoy.