PATHFINDER

Although being somewhat not on par anymore with the first two albums their third release is still a very enjoyable one. Once again due to Alan Park's awesome organ even rather simple songs like "The witch" or "Madame Doubtfire" are sounding quite well done. Overall the album sounds less "dated" than the two predecessors and therefore it might miss somehow the "nostalgic charming" of those ones. Nevertheless it has its highlights like "MacArthur Park" which is in fact a cover version of a very simple pop song but in Beggars Opera's classical arrangement with harpsichord, piano and organ it grows to a small epic suite. Another one is "From Shark to Haggis", starting in a very slow, almost mesmerizing mood and developing into a Scottish Jig. The rest of the songs might be more simple but still very good ones for an Art Rock album.

For me as an admittedly strong lover of this band (at least of their first 3 albums) "Pathfinder" is still a good recommendation for lovers of classical and folk influenced art rock.