A SHADOW OF THE PAST

Don’t be fooled by their name!

I was already aware of FOXTROT nature on purchasing them: they’re nothing like GENESIS, they are more CAMEL. Well, the one who recommended them to me, should have added that they are more 80s CAMEL. And 80s PINK FLOYD, YES, ALAN PARSONS and finally GENESIS too. Keyboards sound awfully cheesy, vocalist is some kind of subdued John Wetton, closing instrumental sounds as if it is a MIDI-file…Despite some nice moments, FOXTROT failed to catch my attention. Yes, I like 80s Pop-inspired Neo Prog like ABEL GANZ or COMEDY OF ERRORS, but FOXTROT is something different. Not recommended, unless you’re interested in 80s Prog Pop.

With clear conscience, I can't rate this with four star as I did before writing this review, few months ago. This is strange kind of synth prog (as I like to call it), drums sounds (good hint PJ) like midi (OK, I read this short review and I agree with this, so why not use it again when it's true) and believe me, I grew old on DOS games, where midi sound was mostly used, then in late 90s (when mp3s were still very rare) I used to listen songs in midi version, so I know what I'm talking about.

"Here Come the Nuclear Warheads" is song with political theme. It reminds me 80s synth music very much. Nice melody, intelligent lyrics, but for a prog little bit, well, this whole thing falls on 80s feelings. I don't like it much. In fact this is why I'm rating just with 3 stars, it has its moments. This song is quite good for example.

But "Silhouette", "The Crowd" and "Monsoon" are terrible. Well, terrible from prog point of view, good from 80s synth pop prog point of view. They're not much worth listening. To lose half of tracks, not good score. There's ne keypoint moment, or theme, something to hook and jump from.

"Warhero" is quite better. It's amongs those listenable tracks here, but don't expect too much. Eponymous "Shadow of the Past" was the main reason why I gave 4 stars previously. It's because of this track.

But even Shadow can't save the day here, this album falls into mere sound of 80s all the time. And that's bad thing, not compliment by my opinion. 3 stars, not so bad for 2, not so good for 4. Yeah, I can't compare it with other albums I've rated 4. Not enough progressivness, that's it.

Let's be honest here: very few of prog music appreciators would expect a masterpiece from an album released in 1984, by the band who's name suggests an uncanny Genesis wannabe. Yet musically it bears more resemblance with Camel of same period, Latimer's combo was veering towards digital synth-heavy digitalized sound at that time and so did Foxtrot.

It's clear that this kind of digital gear is better suited to synth pop and other easier genres than for lengthy prog excursions, but throughout this album band does much to recapture progressive compositional nuances with this particular sound. They don't always succeed. Notably the rhythm section lacks ingenuity and punch, but that was the baleful fashion of that era (remember Marillion's first and many other neo prog albums?).

Despite these drawbacks, nothing here is criminally bad. The poppiest moments could belong to Camel's "Stationary Traveller" album, which is not by itself a worst ever reference. On the other hand, you can find some excellent melodic moments, like the title song and especially the ending of "Warhero".

To put it short, nowhere near essential, but this is above average to good album so 3 stars would be right. Recommended for those who like 80s Camel, The Alan Parsons Project and clever pop-prog and for rarity seekers.

Taking in consideration the year of release from FOXTROT "A Shadow of the Past" 1984, the majority of progressive rock fans tendentially avoid this album and probably after to hear a few minutes of the track 1 "Here come the nuclear warheads" the rejections must have increased. Because if anyone thought to find a GENESIS remake (:specially of his "golden era" which belongs the album "Foxtrot" ), has a complete deception. The biography of the band in P A is perfect when says "reminiscent of CAMEL circa "Stationary Traveller" than the GENESIS song their name implies" and this is very clear. However, has a moment in whole disk where the sound of FOXTROT approaching of the greatest moments of GENESIS's sonority ; this moment is track 3 "A shadow of the past" a very beautiful piece of music with bass pedals and 12 string-guitar accompaniment, gentle keyboards melody and a lead guitar in Hackett's style, from far the best moment of the audience. But the track 5 "WarHero" and the last track "Monsoon" are also good ones. The worst moments are without trace of doubt : track 2 "Silhouette of the tiger" and track 4 "The Crowd". Only due the three tracks detached by me I give 3 stars !!!