MOTHER'S RUIN

I was familiar with eight out of the nine songs of this studio album as they were included (in live versions) on the live concert DVD Coming To Town that was recorded and filmed in Poland in October 2007. Compared to the live versions, these studio versions sound rather tame and watered down. In the live concert setting, the songs sounded invigorated and much improved. This is one of the reasons that I rate this studio album a bit lower. It is not bad at all as such, but also not particularly special either.

For those who are new to Oliver's music it should be pointed out that he has picked up more than a few tricks form his legendary father. But the music of Mother's Ruin is however more towards melodic Hard Rock with some progressive touches than to classic Rick Wakeman-esque Symphonic Prog. The compositions are rather conventional. The vocals are by Paul Manzi who would later go on to become Arena's new vocalist. He does a fine job, but he lacks a unique and distinctive voice.

Both the aforementioned live concert DVD and the all instrumental album Oliver did with Steve Howe called 3 Ages Of Magic are better places to start with Oliver's career. In addition to almost the whole of the Mother's Ruin album the DVD also offers five songs from Oliver's collaborations with Clive Nolan with four of them from Jabberwocky and one from Hound Of The Baskerville. The DVD is thus a better way to get acquainted with both Mother's Ruin and Jabberwocky. Only fans need this CD in addition, hence the two star rating.