COMEDY OF ERRORS

It's taken some time to get to know Fanfare & Fantasy before I felt sure of how to review it. Great sounds, incredible instrumentalists, pretty good vocalist(s), even okay lyrics, and fair production (the mixes often feel like separate tracks, the music lacks a cohesive "weave" or blending of the sounds). Where I find serious fault with this album--and all of its songs--is in the delivery: Each song sounds and feels like a whole bunch of ideas that have been patched together and not always very seemlessly, smoothly or pleasantly. Each time I've listened to F&F songs either individually or within the entire album I come away remembering nothing. No melody sticks with me, no message, no particular passages--and during the listening I find myself thinking things like, "how impressive the soloists are," "how familiar this sound, riff or passage is," or "how curious this change is/how awkwardly this flows." While I like all of the songs, I have no favorites--there is none that stands out or that I will keep on my Best of 2013 playlists. A 3.5 star album I'll rate up for the talent of the band's musicianship. Here's hoping these talented folk are able to blend their talents and sounds better into more cohesive, tapestry-like songs in the future.

When I reviewed C of E's most recent album (the incredible 'Fanfare & Fantasy') I happened to mention that I hadn't heard this their 2011 debut, so both Joe and Bruce kindly asked if I would like a copy. Daft question really. I still have some trouble realising that this is a debut album when they were a band that I knew about in the early Nineties, yet by then they were already pretty much defunct, so what on earth gave them the impetus to get back together again? Original members Joe Cairney (vocals), Jim Johnston (keys, additional guitars and backing vocals) and Mark Spalding (guitars and bass) brought in drummer Bruce Levick for the album (he has since joined) and even convinced Hew Montgomery to help out as well. But, this is way more than just some old guys (yes I can say that as I am one as well) getting together and messing about; these guys mean serious business.

There is no way that a band that has been apart for more than twenty years should be able to get together and produce an album that screams quality from start to end, it really does beggar the question "where have you been?" Loads of bands came and went during the 80's and 90's, but I can't think of any that disappeared for such a long time before coming back with a neo- prog album of such epic proportions. While Marillion is an obvious influence, I would also point to Grace and Credo on some numbers, although Gryphon does definitely have an impact as does Kansas.

This is everything I want from a neo-prog album, from harmonies and melodies through to strong keyboards and punishing guitar lines. To finally have their classic "The Student Prince" on CD is just a huge bonus to boot, so glad that they brushed that one off and gave it the performance it deserved. All in all an incredible album that progheads will savour. www.comedyoferrors.org

I've been enjoying the prog rock revival across Europe and the US now for the past couple of years and, having been a Deep Purple; Camel; Wishbone Ash; Genesis; Asia; etc fan since the early 70s, the landscape is currently a veritable panoramic feast of inspired output.

Most recently, I have bought albums by Act, Agents of Mercy, Airbag, Brother Ape, Combination Head, The Flower Kings, Flying Colors, Karmakanic, Mystery, The Pineapple Thief, Porcupine Tree, RPWL, Spock's Beard, Storm Corrosion, Subsignal, Transatlantic, Magic Pie, Kaipa, Liam Davison, The Tangent, Marbin, Nine Stones Close, Opeth, Delusion Squared, Hostsonaten and Liquid Tension Experiment, among others. This list alone represents an amazing breadth of pan global progressive rock musical talent and I think qualifies me to have at least some idea of what good looks like. Like many of us, I also had my own band in my formative years (I played lead guitar and wrote songs) and dreamed of performing professionally. Sadly that never happened and my passion is now focused on listening rather than playing.

Many of these bands are either European or American, and so it was to my great joy and amazement that I stumbled upon Comedy of Errors from Glasgow. Being a Fife man myself, I am so thrilled that one of the best talents in the pack I have just listed hails from my homeland.

This is the very first time I have been compelled to sit down and write a review. Why? Well, Comedy or Errors reaches the highest standards of musicianship and song writing. Their music is creative, melodic, inspired and often sublime. The production is sharp, professional and tasteful and, perhaps even more importantly, the tracks not only grab you, but they grow on you too. I have had pretty much nothing else on my iPod for the last couple of weeks except Fanfare & Fantasy (the new album) and Disobey (the previous album). If I had to name favourite tracks, I would include The Answer (Fanfare & Fantasy), The Cause (Fanfare & Fantasy), Disobey (Disobey), Joke (Disobey) and The Student Prince Pt. 3 (Disobey). But it's all good!

Being a lead guitarist of at least some merit in the past, I have to take my hat off especially to Mark Spalding who I believe was the bass guitarist before a line up change a few years ago. Now I admire bass players hugely and understand how they can make or break a band's sound, but for a guitarist to ride both the bass and lead guitar waves as Mark has obviously done is nothing short of breathtaking. His guitar playing is of virtuoso standard; tasteful, clever, even masterful. I just love his solos to bits, and they've caused a few shivers up my spine for sure.

So what else can I say? Guys, you should be massive. You are top of a very distinguished talent league and I hope you eventually get all the success you deserve. In the meantime, you have made this particular prog fan - and no doubt countless others - very happy indeed.

I was curious to hear what the fuss was about with this new album given the glowing reviews and maybe like some, there was a part of me hoping to take these upstarts down a peg or too ! I have to say though, with this stunning album, Comedy Of Errors have made a fan of me. From the suppressed anger and sadness of 'Fanfare For The Broken Hearted' and 'Something She Said' right through to the grandiose pomp of 'The Answer' we have a musical journey of depth and catharsis. The songs are tightly written, emotional and powerful with even the longer ones beautifully constructed with contrasting sections that still seem relevant to each other.There are no unmusical indulgences done just to impress- everything here seems connected and done for a reason although the playing in these multi-layered songs is impressive.This is a band who are clearly influenced significantly by Pink Floyd but also Yes and Genesis but on the other hand do seem to put there own stamp on things to the extent that they don't particularly sound like any of them. Their sound is classic Prog mellotron etc mixed with more modern electro and orchestral flavours which gives them a more contemporary sound. Many reviews have mentioned the sheer number of hooky melodies which come thick and fast and give this album an almost disarming appeal.There is however plenty going on that will reward repeated listens. The songs have a great variety of styles with the epic 'Going For A Song' and 'The Answer' in the neo camp and many others much harder to pigeon hole. 'In A Lifetime' and Remembrance are sort of rock ballads but with a dark quality.There also seems to be strong classical elements throughout the album particularly "Time's Motet and Galliard' and 'Merry Dance' which could be a prog single. 'The Cause' with its broad brush Floydian build ups and contrasting traditional jig section is an epic track which after hearing it, seems appropriate to have a few moments of reverential and respectful silence.The production too is superb. It's all just opinions but for me this is the type of album that could spearhead the resurgence of our beloved Prog and convert the uninitiated to the true path!

I ordered this album because of the reviews - a blind no-brainer buy. I cannot say that I am disappointed, but I cannot say that I share the praise, either...

There are hummable tunes all around, and there are also clever lines in the lyrics and nice neo-classical musical pieces, allright. These are far from bad, but they seem so far-fetched and constructed, lacking musical intuition and a sense for the purity and emotionality of music. I know: To many "outsiders" this sounds like a definition of progressive rock, but even for me, who has a rather long history of "math rock" going on, this is a mixture of melodic craving and structural tamtam that simply does not add up to anything special. It is, maybe, too much like to much other stuff.

So what remains is an album I will definitely like to listen to when I'm doing some boring work like the laundry or the like. But it does not enter my belly and my brain deeply enough to be a candidate for heavy armchair rotation.

This album took me by surprise. I came to prog relatively late in life having a more classically trained background but I have been enjoying immensely the delights of this most varied of genres for several years now. Don't get me wrong, as in every type of music there is the mundane and predictable but this album has surprised me by the level of invention allied to it's emotional impact. Musically I find it to be a more natural extension of classical music, there being a lot more to it than meets the eye; maybe this is why I find it more appealing than usual and why I feel urged to write from that standpoint.  A friend who had seen this band live kept raving about them and insisted I listen to their new album.  I have now been listening to this album constantly for the past week or so. We are firmly into prog territory here but also into what progarchives would describe as crossover and symphonic elements. The influences of the early seventies prog bands are there as they are in every modern day prog band; that is what makes them prog after all.  However what we get here is that, and a lot more besides.  All the songs are very direct, with a strong sense of purpose but more so is the sheer inventiveness of the melodies, a neglected art in recent times. This is where they score heavily . Maybe this is why we are reminded of the seventies prog influences...simply because of their ability to come up with great original tunes. No band should be ashamed of writing good tunes though it seems many bands are, or maybe it's because they can't. Here we have an abundance of them. However it's the way the themes and musical motifs are developed and reprised in different guises that give these 'epic' style songs a strong feeling of unity even in the longer multi sectional ones. This thematic unity and motivic development is used in classical music and here it works to great effect. The longer songs are not just made up of stuck together unrelated sections. This album feels as if it has been thoroughly composed through with a feeling of one part belonging to the other. There are many lines going on at once in a contrapuntal fashion seemingly derived from the same thematic material. All these techniques are usually utilised more in classical music but here are used to marvellous effect in the progressive style. Subliminally, they have the effect of making every note relevant and heightening the listening experience. It is a case of art disguising art. What is very much original is the way they have fused these classical techniques with great tunes which hide a greater complexity underneath. They are never afraid to reduce things at one moment to a bare beautiful simplicity before using the same elements of material to morph into inventive, more complex passages where that complexity is subtly hidden. The production is superb and the arrangements well thought out and appropriate for the variety of song on this album.  This sheer musicality and lyrical depth is what gives this album its powerful emotional impact and raises it above the rest. But you don't need to analyse this musically as I have, or be aware of the techniques which make this album a bit special. It is accessible on the surface but complex underneath and no one really needs to know WHY. Unless one has musical tastes so narrow that only allows you to enjoy one specific type of music, I think that most people, proggers and non-proggers alike will love this album.

I stumbled across this album by pure chance when surfing you tube one night and was instantly compelled to find out more about this album as the first track 'fanfare for the broken hearted' has a really catchy tune which reminds me strongly of Fish era Marillion. After a bit of wiki investigating it turns out that these guys are also Scottish! I haven't yet memorized all the songs but what I can say is that there are no fillers on this album and it just seems to get better all the way though. This is definitely the best album I have heard so far in 2013 and while there is strong marillion and some genesis influence present in this album the overall sound is still quite unique. I see it as what Fish era marillion would sound like if it still existed today. I would recommend this album to all prog listeners, as it really would be hard to not like this album. 4.5 stars if it were possible!

When I saw the ratings for this album, I could only shake my head. How can feelings about music differ so much? But maybe that's the real magic there is, and maybe this is why we are all so captivated by this spark of culture...

Anyway, I can't say that I have enjoyed this album, and I really tried to. I bought it because it was referred to so very often. I listened to it whole-heartedly, with high spirits, with all the best intentions and open minds you could ask for because it was talked about in terms that normally captivate me completely. I tried and tried again, in the morning, at night, at work, in my car...

Nope.

It all seems like make-believe and masks to me. Everytime I hear something I like, I instantly know where it came from. And then I turn on the "original" and think in terms of "Yeah, THAT is how it should have been done. Oh wait. It HAS!" Yes, it is professionally performed and cleverly constructed, I grant you that. But it is also only a copy of great music scenes if you want to use a bad word - or a rather simple pastiche if you want to use a friendly one. The conclusion is the same: It bores me.

I cannot wholly agree to a lot that has been said above. Much of what we hear is blatantly normal prog stuff without too much of, let's call it, a traceable character of the band's self. Don't get me wrong, this is not bad at all - but it is also far from excellent, as it does indeed *not* excel above their predecessors and obvious idols, but draw from them very strongly.

I do not wish to repeat the praise: Yes, the melodies are good (although not very original), yes, the vocals are outstanding (albeit only if you consider the average prog half-amateur singer as the reference point...), yes, there are quite a few intriguing harmonies (if you have not listened to too much other, very famous, prog bands in advance): All of this is perfectly chewable and easily digestible. But it is also a stew made out of far too many leftovers from meals you have already had.

Having previously bought Disobey which was a fantastic debut album from the Scottish outfit Comedy Of Errors, I was intrigued as to what they might come up with to maybe match it. I should not have lost faith. Fanfare And fantasy is even better than Disobey in so many ways. firstly all the tracks are under 10 minutes in length and there is no epic track. The tracks are all epic though in there own way. The band appears to be pretty stable with the founding members, Jim Johnston on keyboards, Mark Spalding on guitar and bass and Joe Cairney once again on vocals. Bruce Levick who played drums on Disobey is back as menacing as ever with some fantstic stick trickery worthy of some of the best out there. He is now a fully fledged member of the band it would appear. the only strange part is Mark Spalding playing bass once more as he did on Disobey so I'm not sure whether the band have just not found the right person yet though I believe that John Fitzgerald now fills those shoes. The album kicks off with Fanfare For The Broken Hearted which has an acapella type singing. It breaks into a great keyboard section and if you dont tap along then you must indeed need your ears cleaned out. Something She Said is a well constructed piece with great keys and guitar work and Joe Cairney's voice once again appears to be on top form. In A Lifetime is pretty heavy in parts with the guitar giving it hat crunching sound and the solo is a work of art. Going For A Song was one of the tracks I heard live at Summers End and I'm sure they played it exactly as it says on the tin. Beauitiful keyboards swirling synths and great all round work by the rest of the band throughout this track. Merry Dance threw me a bit as I was expecting a Christmas type track although maybe it was just the Merry part of the title. Having got to the 5th track, there are none that even sound remotely the same and it is nothing like the Disobey album at all. It's a great credit that the band have not went out and recorded Disobey mark 2 which is what a lot of bands tend to do with a follow up album. The Cause was also heard live and it seemed like they were going back to the past a little with the lyrics in this song. They can be about troubles at home as welll as in other parts of the world and the meesage is there for all to hear. Times Motet And Galliard has the band going back to early classical style music and Jim Johnston doffs his cap to a few people here. Its a really beautiful first 4 and 1/2 minutes of sublime keyboards and nothing else and then the songs changes completely in the middle. I'm sure Gentle Giant or Gryphon would have been proud to have written this track and it shows that the band can really change things around. Remembrance is a really nice slow burner of a track and builds up nicely to vocals which Jon Anderson in his prime would have been proud of. The last track is called The Answer and although there is no epic tracks over 10 minutes on this album, this track is epic in every sense of the word. It is a great Neo Prog track that would be worthy on ny classic album from the 80's and gives a nod to Marillion and Pendragon though thats not a critisism. Comedy Of Errors have a style all of ther own and the band should take a bow to what I'm sure will be the best prog album of 2013 and will be hailed a classic in a few years time. Goodness knows what they will come up for the next album, but if Fanfare And Fantasy is anything to go by, then another classic awaits us I'm sure. Another 5 star album guys and it would have got 6 stars if I could have given it that.