EDISON'S CHILDREN

As with Druckfarben I was sent this to review as a digital copy, so hadn't seen the booklet when I started listening to it. Also, I hadn't undertaken any research so didn't know who was involved and was treating this as a totally new band. It was only afterwards that I realised that this was a joint project of Pete Trewavas (Marillion) and Eric Blackwood (Crimson) who then brought in various friends and guests (including the rest of Marillion, which is the first time they have all appeared on an album which doesn't have their name on the front). I was pleased that I had no idea who was involved as it means that my view of the album is untainted, and this atmospheric spacey Floyd-type prog is right up my street.

There are times when the drums are just too basic for my taste, but that is really just a minor knock against what is a very fine album. Both Pete and Eric provide lead vocals, and while they may not be standout singers they suit the music just fine and it really works. The production is top quality, and this is an album that definitely benefits from being played at night, looking out at the stars with a glass of fine malt at hand. If I had the choice of playing this or the latest Marillion album then this wins hands down every time. www.edisonschildren.com

This experimental collaboration of MARILLION roadie Eric Blackwood and PETE TREWAVAS has produced some absolutely gorgeous atmospheric The Wall-era PINK FLOYD-like Crossover prog. Great keyboard work fills every song and some pretty darn good guitar playing and singing, too. There is some kind of thread of repeated themes and sounds throughout the album. Overall the album has a kind of ART OF NOISE plays with PINK FLOYD and Hogarth- era MARILLION, with a more soulful IAN ANDERSON performing the vocalese. This is an album full of very catchy, engaging sounds, hooks, chords and lyrics and amazing production value.

Album highpoints: the gorgeous #5, "A Million Miles Away (I Wish I Had a Time Machine) (5:01) (8/10), the vocal on #6, "Outerspaced" (3:14) (8/10); the gorgeous #7, "Spiraling" (5:01) (10/10); the all-out rockin' #11 "Lifeline" (3:17) (8/10), and the regirgitative #12 "Fallout (of the 3rd Kind)" (4:01) (9/10).

4.5 stars, marked down for not really being very innovative or ground-breaking--for playing what is really very familiar, albeit, gorgeous, music.

Edison's Children is a side project by Pete Trewavas of Marillion fame and Eric Blackwood, and this debut album of theirs features guest appearances by every single other current member of Marillion. But that doesn't mean this is a Marillion album under another name, not by any means. Trewavas and Blackwood very much collaborate as equals here, and the musical direction they've chosen presents a spacey, dark, Pink Floyd-influenced version of progressive rock which is distinctly different from anything Marillion have done. With a combination of dark, moody, spacey soundscapes and decidedly catchy songs - the king of which must be the absolutely brilliant A Million Miles Away (I Wish I Had a Time Machine) - Edison's Children knock this one out of the park.

Man I never dreamed after my first few listenes that i'd be giving this 4 stars. The sound here is fairly samey, at least it has this melancholic mood throughout with a similar flavour instrumentally. And at 70 minutes it's of course too long but man this has grown on me. Pete Trewavas (MARILLION) and Eric Blackwood (CRIMSON) are the creators and performers with all of MARILLION helping out and a couple of other guests. They pretty much do this all themselves though. The vocals aren't anything to write home about but they both sing and I like them. One sounds a little like Bryan Ferry to my ears. I like the way tszirmay describes this as being a strange piece of music that is a series of studio manufactured mood pieces.

"Dusk" is a good way to describe the mood of this whole recording, but it's also the title of track one. Percussion is joined by acoustic guitar then reserved vocals before 2 minutes. It picks up 3 minutes in then we get some electric guitar before 5 minutes that solos tastefully overtop. It blends into "Fracture" a two part piece divided into "Fallout (Of The First Kind) and "The Last Refrain". It starts to pick up early then vocals come in at 1/2 minutes. It turns heavier. Nice. Vocals are Ferry-like 3 1/2 minutes in. "In The First Waking Moments" is a short piece with gentle guitar and reserved vocals. "A Million Miles Away" is maybe my favourite track on here. Strummed guitar to start as it builds some as laid back vocals join in. Just a cool sounding tune. A heartbeat and atmosphere late as it blends into "Fallout (Of The 2nd Kind)". Spoken word samples come in then we get music that builds followed by vocals after 1 1/2 minutes. Again Ferry-like. Reserved vocals a minute later as these vocals trade off as it were. "Outerspaced" kicks in heavily with huge bass lines and passionate vocals. "Spiraling" has a beat with a warm atmosphere. Reserved vocals join in. Laid back electric guitar before 3 minutes then it ends with noise after 4 1/2 minutes.

"The "Other" Other Dimension" is bass and drum led early then the vocals come in after 1 1/2 minutes but they're brief. A change in sound before 3 minutes but this also is brief. A crazy tune man. "Across The Plains" has a repetitive beat, atmosphere and more. "In The Last Waking Moments..." opens with gentle guitar as a beat joins in then vocals around a minute. It's fuller a minute later. Catchy stuff. Heavy guitar after 5 minutes as the intensity increases. "Lifeline" has a heavy intro as massive bass lines come in then vocals after a minute. It's still heavy. "Fallout (Of The 3rd Kind)" is mellow with fragile vocals until it kicks in heavily before a minute. Ferry-like vocals also join in. "The Awakening" is the 15 1/2 minute tour de force. Under this title they have written "Slowburn" which is a good way to describe this track. This is laid back with a beat but it's heavy. Samples of a conversation come in. Vocals replace the conversation. This all fades out before 4 1/2 minutes as the song sort of drifts along with vocals. It's fuller before 8 minutes without vocals but it's still dreamy. Vocals are back after 11 1/2 minutes for 2 minutes. "Fallout (Of The 4th Kind)" ends it with a short acoustic guitar and reserved vocal piece.

This is an album that has gone from being so-so in my mind to "i can't wait to spin it again". And if you don't believe in Hobbits look at the two guys on the back cover. A rare picture of two of them in the fog. Oops ! Wait a minute that's Pete and Eric. Sorry guys, I shouldn't be making fun of how tall you aren't.

As a huge Marillion fan, and a fan of their solo work as well, I awaited with great anticipation the release of Edison's Children "In The Last Waking Moments". It was truly worth the wait!!! How rich the sounds are and, as someone said, I too love Pete's vocals, which I appreciate on Marillion's songs as backup, but really seem to be on display here with great success. The music took me away on a journey of the mind and soul that has caused me to keep it in constant CD rotation on my player. I especially love to listen to it in the dark, with my eyes closed and some incense burning. Others might speak of technique, style, etc, but to me music is all about emotion and does it stir something in me.

Some people may buy this thinking that you will get a Marillion experience, which is mind/soul blowing in its own right. But to purchase it for that reason will not allow you to fully enjoy a completely different vibe.

Listen with your ears and soul open............ Edison's Children's "In The Last Waking Moments" is/was so worth the wait!

This is one of the best album I have heard in a long time. Being a huge Marillion fan, I was very curious to hear this Pete Trewavas and Eric Blackwood collaboration. As soon as I heard the bongos at the beginning of Dusk, I knew I was in for something unique. The re-occuring melody that keeps coming back throughout the album is really hooking you. But I have to say that the epic The Awakening is just mind blowing...I remember sitting there with headphones, listening attentively and realized tears were rolling down my cheeks...and no, it is not because my favorite singer is part of the choir but really because of the deep lyrics glued with the spine tingling music that had just got under my skin....I recommend this album to every open minded prog fans around the globe although I have read that some listeners only gave it one chance....let it grow on you and I guarantee you will love it!

I really love this sublime collaberating of two good musicians... Pete Trewavas (from Marillion) and Eric Blackwood. I Never had thought that Pete had acualy a Nice singing voice aswell. I 'only' Know him as a very very good Bass player, Now He Sings, Play Bass, Plays Guitar, Plays Drums AND plays Keys...!! Eric does the minor part in Singing, but when he does it is Haunting...! He plays bass and guitar aswell. There are some guiest musicians aswell.. All the members of marillion... This Music brings me in another Dimension.... It is spine chilling and amazing good. Hauning and lovely. Funny and Funky. Depths and breths of good music. A pleasure to listen to.

As a long time prog listener, I have heard the good stuff. King Crimson, Yes, Rush, ELP. I love it all. Once in a while a band comes along that catches my ear as if to say, hey, there is something here. There is more than meets the eye. Some bands I admit, took a while to "get it". ( King Crimson ) There is something deeper and more meaningful in the prog music lovers music. It might take one or two listens, but its there. This is artistic freedom at its finest. No cookie cutter music here. Eric Blackwood and Pete Trewavas and an idea and they ran with it. I for one see it. I get it. This music jumped out at me on about the third spin. I thought, man, thats it. Thats the stuff progressive music should be made of. Thats the stuff we need more of. My take on this record is that it is a masterpiece and I look forward to more from this camp of fine musicians.

Not often moved enough to want to review albums but this one truly has hit a high bar with me that I have not felt since the first time I heard the album Brave by Marillion in it's entirety.

We all know who Pete Trewavas (Marillion / Transatlantic) and Eric Blackwood are - but if you want to know more then go find their website and read the extensive bio information (plus play the video, but more importantly buy the album!) .... www.edisonschildren.com

So my take on the album (I'm not a pro reviewer, and do not have as wide a collection of source music or bands to pick on, so will just say what I see)

Overall...... i didn't get it at all the first time I listened to it. I had tried it in bits and pieces and really could not fathom the thing. But then.....I sat in the dark one night, cranked it up load, and sent myself on the ride that changed my whole world of understanding this album. it is a masterpiece than needs end to end playing and appreciation. Like Brave by Marillion or The Whirlwind by Transatlantic, you cannot get the hook and you do not do it justice unless you invest the time to focus on it and let it transport you to where ever you will go. Once you do that - then you will find yourself owning a real good player, worthy of the Prog Archives ranking as one of the best three albums of 2011, and something that you will come back to again and again and again.

The 20 pages of artwork are beautiful in the cd (I really like to own real items rather than downloads) and it can be bought directly from their site or from Racket Records on Marillion's site. (It's available elsewhere as well, but I refuse to buy things on sites where a majority of the money taken goes to fat ass corporations instead of the actual artists who have worked hard to make their work available in the first place)

Dusk.....The incredible intro piece - very spine tingling and moody complete with the vocals of a man sounding haggared and worn from his ordeal of what he believes is happening to him. The bongo's intro is very different, and the single guitar that slices into its rhythm makes me shiver when it comes in. It is very emotive, and I was surprised to find that Pete is not even playing bass on the first track - gotta love it when these guys mess with your expectations like that! It sets the tone for the album very well indeed.

Fracture (Fallout of the 1st kind) - Brings us crashing and burning into the reality of the protagonist of the album complete with thundering vocals and lead guitars and includes audio recording from actual air traffic control/pilot discussion regarding something that should not be there (This is used twice very effectively in the album - one of them is from a shuttle landing that was buzzed by a UFO! Funny how these things fail to make the news but are just out there if you know where to go find them)

In the first waking moments - gives us a reoccurring theme for the album - simple single guitar and a beautiful vocal.

A Million Miles Away - Why is this not being played on every radio station? Love love love love love

Fallout of the 2nd kind - Good solid rock, great vocals, excellent loud!!

Outerspaced - I wonder if the guys were spaced out when they did this bit. It took a few listens before I got into this track, but it does get to you in time. Hard to believe that little Pete of Marillion is screaming like a banshee. The axes really do rock this track too. Like I said - took me a while but I love it now.

Spiralling - soulful, mystical, spiritual and one of the best Steve Rothery solos I have ever head. 'Nuff said

The Other Other Dimension - Alien doctors doing experiments while Mark Kelley goes nuts with synths. Nuff said again.

Across the plains - Too short. A beautiful, simple composition. Great work on synthesized guitar.

In The Last Waking Moments - Great guest guitar work from Robin Boult (of Fish fame) and the whole piece builds and builds in momentum all the way to the finish line.

Lifeline - Thundering from end to end

Fallout of the 3rd kind - brings us back to that central theme once more, and kicks ass with its guitar work leading into the album's epic piece....

The Awakening - 15 and a half minutes of prog genius - contains it all, incredible music, spooky alien noises in the background, pilot/ground control recording, a ball busting beautiful acoustic solo by Pete, the Slow Burn in the middle, the breakdown of the protagonist of the story, a choir of voices including Steve Hogarth, and the ever excellent mastery of Ian Mosley taking the whole album higher and higher until it reaches its absolutely amazing crescendo.

Fallout of the 4th kind - what good is a scary thought provoking story unless it leaves you with a spine tingling ending? Scares the bejeebers out of me every time I listen to it.

I cannot say enough good things about this. All I would suggest is that people who have thought about it and have put it on their to-do list or have it as a possibly/maybe - then just go out there and buy it now. Turn the lights off, grab a drink, sit in the dark, turn it up load, and tell me that you are not moved and amazed and have goosebumps when it finishes.

Thank you for your time :)

Within my current heavy jazz-rock phase, I still decided to go out and purchase some other symphonic and even electronic material, with the purpose of maintaining diverse levels of interest and reflection. I like a well stocked kitchen and prog should the one genre to easily be able to accommodate my various desires. Lately, the catch has been remarkable as 2011 and even the early glimpses of 2012 clearly show. Between getting the sophomore IO Earth album and a prog-folk newbie called Fauns (not Faun) that titillated my ebullient senses, I took the luscious risk of ordering a controversial debut album from Edison's Children, a collab effort between Eric Blackwood and Marillion/Transatalantic's Pete Trewavas . Some PA stalwarts have essentially voiced strong criticism while others salivate like a starving Rottweiler at the sheer scope of genius displayed here. My ultra-rebellious nature enjoys such ambivalence and potential for debate. Truth is why shouldn't I express my opinion via a review without falling into the 'praise line' and state how I perceive this recording? It's a strange piece of music that is quite obvious from the get-go, requiring multiple revisits and a routine of reevaluating the inner sonic nodes to fit the new mold. Truth is, this is a studio manufactured series of mood pieces, 2 artists sitting in their aural canvas and daubing Monet like details to the overall mosaic soundscape. Therefore, we have tracks that are unsuccessful and at times even irritating, the screeching Trewavas vocals are painful on the otherwise brutal 'Outspaced' , 'A Million Miles Away' has again Eric singing in a voice style that I particularly do not enjoy, a thin raspy voice that would have exploded the arrangement with splendor had they opted for a fabulous vocalist, male or even better, female.

There is a lot to grasp here, the opener 'Dusk' flashing a moody surrealism, pushed along by a frenetic pounding, setting a definite tone to follow, more melodic than Mariusz Duda's Lunatic Soul (yes, lazland!!!!!!) but somehow in the same vein of dreamy and catchy atmospherics. 'Fracture' is like the proper segue, a slow blooming evolution of imminent doom, actually very heavy in a foreboding way, replete with agonizing rhythm guitar bulldozers and a nasty tinge all around. This is where I start to see the light (Edison, remember?) as this is really 'Fallout of the First Kind' and it reeks of Watersian rage and fury and very correctly in my opinion, hints at Led Zep's "Kashmir" , obvious in the chorus and the dense orchestrations!

More on the winning side, the exotic cosmic deliverance of 'Fallout of the 2nd Kind', with its heavy synth and hard rock barrage is pure bliss. The vocals here work a bit like Mark Hollis of Talk Talk fame, emotive yet somehow hushed. Fantastic stuff. 'Spiraling' is a pure jewel, a scintillating slice of atmospheric wisps, the vocals Floydian and the mood voluptuous. Legend Steve Rothery delivers a sublime solo that consecrates his fame once again. 'The Other Dimension' is a somewhat demented pastiche , marked by counterpoint vocals, loopy piano, fuzzy guitar ravings, spunky bass and lewd drumming, all laced with various effects, voice and otherwise. Cool stuff!

The short and sweet 'Across the Plains' is all Pete Trewavas , a stunning electronic piece with emotive programming and synthesized sitar. The album title track 'In the Last waking Moments' is another high watermark, casting Fish's Robin Boult on grinding lead guitar and some orchestrated synths in the background. But it's the song that shudders and expands, keeping the attention on the evolution of the arrangement, gorgeous acoustic guitar chaperoning it along. Boult's second solo really sizzles nicely.

'Lifeline' returns to heavy rock mold but way more fruitfully this time , a devastating bass wields its bullying weight around (that should be no surprise) , coming across like some Hawkwind hybrid but with a weirder vocalist.

'Fallout of the 3rd Kind' is like some announcer stating' we now rejoin our regularly scheduled broadcast' as it continues on the previous megalo-maniacal screeching path to oblivion, hot and heavy, where everything works: the pummeling bass, Eric's sensational lead guitar and, I admit grudgingly, intense vocals. It's a joyride, with loads of colossal symphonics urging the eruption along.

The progressive core of this opus is the epic 15 minute 'The Awakening' , a track that seeks and succeeds in encompassing what this album is about and the likely continued collaboration between Blackwood and Trewavas that can be expected. Expansive, breathless and ethereal, the music evolves at its own leisurely pace, unshackled by demand or expectations, free to roam and conquer new sonic lands like some bygone Roman Empire army. We prog fans like the longer tracks because the urgency is more subtle and diverse than some hard ass 3 minute ditty. This is a stunner as our venerated lazland boldly but correctly stated. The final 'fallout' is the gentlest breeze ever and makes you shudder at the prospect of our future.

Certainly deeper in prog content than current Marillion, the tepid Kino or the fussy Transatlantic, there is enough here to warrant and desire a future release. Especially if the lads can swallow their pride and get Steve Hoggarth to sing on their songs (here on choir duty only) . The 70 minute long disc has about 10 minutes worth of dross but that means that there is an hour of great music and that's good enough for me. As usual, I find myself in the middle of this strenuous debate but logic persists in making the decision a positive one. But all the points are well taken. This is a grower than needs alot of affectionate dates. After all, who knows when the last waking moments will arrive? And then, all will be gone, even from any planetary memory.

4 seedy rhizomes