THE TEETHING FASHION

Relayer indeed. An apt name for musicians who have individual sounds of their obvious mentors, Yes. There's the drummer; Bill Kiser sounds like a student of Bill Bruford's snare heavy, roll with feel approach. Bassist Tom Burke, though not a dead on Squire clone, plays the bottom like an anchor, but isn't afraid to let his bass sing. Guitarist Tim LaRoi has the Steve Howe sound and attack down pat, yet doesn't really steal his licks. Gregg Pannier has a more Tony Kaye type approach, as opposed to Wakeman, and fills out the symphonic sound. The surprise of the band is John Sahagian who sounds nothing like Jon Anderson, he sounds like Freddie Mercury without the melodrama. A boyish tenor kind of sums it up. "Pleasant." Think "You're My Best Friend." Soft, yet powerful. He's got a voice that grows on you. Each time I play this, and I play it a lot, JS's voice gets better. The album, on a whole, is one that gets better with each listen.

Now Hear This: They don't sound like YES. Given the above comparisions, you'd expect a YES cover band, they're not. While not completely original, they sound like YES pretending to be someone else. Genesis, a little ELP (very little) even a touch of Dream Theater. Maybe it the Freddie link that makes this sound fresh and full of energy. I have a hard time obeying speed laws while this plays...

Two tunes that do have direct YES comparisions; Eleven Steps is 5% for Nothing meets the Fish, and My Black Cat,a solo acoustic piece, is Masquerade by way of Mood for a Day. Both songs are WAY TOO SHORT, but brilliant.

The 11 tracks vary in style, length and form, chugging rock to gentle acoustic, raging Hammond to tinkling piano. The rythym section lays a solid playful base, tasteful and not too busy. Standouts include the hard edged Madness, Genesis inflected Cairo, joyful Queen inspired Everyday Disguise and (my favorite track) Marburg Friend, a joyous ode to relationships that could be home on any Jon Anderson solo album. Primitive You is a light tune, nice acoustic guitar and piano with nearly Fleetwood Mac vibe to it. Weird, but it works. ...I Am has a bit more power, not metal but a little heavier than most anything else on the disc.

If you like Yes, Salem Hill, Echolyn, Rush, any melodic prog, Relayer will be a satifying experience.

This american band is almost unknown by everybody intrested in prog music, i'm deduceing from the number of reviews, but for sure is one of the most talented american symphonic prog acts from the '90's. The music is very well composed , with some hints from the glorious Kansas, some Gentle Giant elements, indeed very fiew but they are, specially on instrumental passages, and even Queen on vocals, so mixed bag, but a good one all the way. The teething fashon is their second album from 1996 and far more superior than the predecesor, with very strong moments and musicianship. The musicians were unknown to me 'till i discovered this true lost treasure of the '90's and they are all skillfull with fine aproach to symhonic prog music. My fav pieces are:Left Behind, Marburg Friends, an almost instrumental one Cairo,Madness, the rest are very ok to my ears. Specially i like very much the voice of John Sahagian, very good vocalist who knows to shift his voice from harder range to a mellower section of his voice, great, sometimes is quite on the same level and manner of interpretation with Freddy Mercury, his vocal style is close to Queen's voice. In the end an underrated album, with a lot to offer for both, symphonic prog fans and more harder edged ones. 4 stars for sure and an album to aquire if you are intresded in bands like Legacy, Kalaban and maybe Rush here and there.

A small number of gigs and a line-up change later, Relayer were ready to come up with their second album.Bill Kiser took his place behind the drum kit, replacing Michael Ways, and the new work of the band carried the title ''The teething fashion''.Released in 1996, this marked the first product of Relayer for Angular Records.The album was also distributed in Europe via Musea Records.

Slightly more complex, the new Relayer album shows again a fresh and passionate band full of interesting ideas, split in short- and mid-length compositions, which feature intricate and rich performances.A light GENTLE GIANT influence appears every now and then, indicating a new element in Relayer's music, combined with the already familiar GENESIS and RUSH influences.Guitar work falls somewhere between MARILLION and RUSH'es ALEX LIFESON, while the keyboard parts are pretty great, often colored with symphonic textures and pompous deliveries, again MARILLION should be cited as an influence, of course along with TONY BANKS' monumental style.There are moments when the group sounds very close to compatriots ECHOLYN, especially in the more complicated moves, characterized by the clean voices, the changing tempos and the dense interplays.Relayer though were always a group with a strong sense of melody, thus another one of their works contains plenty of them, either through emotional guitar solos or the laid-back vocal-based acoustic preludes.But again there are also a few tracks with an extremely dramatic atmosphere, created by the crying electric guitars and the orchestral delivery of synthesizers, showcasing a band capable of flexible and mature composing.

For fans of rich, 70's-influenced Neo/Symphonic Progressive Rock, delivered in a modern way, ''The teething fashion'' is a not-to-be-missed album.Strongly recommended, an overlooked pear of the 90's...3.5 stars.