OTSOA DANTZAN

This second and final production of IZUKAITZ is somewhat more significant from a progressive perspective than their debut. Occupying the Venn Diagram intersection of STEELEYE SPAN, TRI YANN, and ITOIZ, they lack the potency of the former, the engaging personality of the second, and the haunting and lucid songwriting of the latter.

Again, I have no beef with the group's playing and even singing. Tracks 3,4 and the finale are especially strong, and the keyboards along with the pipes, fiddles, whistles, and enthusiastically strummed acoustic guitars, occasionally transcend musical boundaries into a realm we can only call prog, even if Track 5 veers decidedly into new age posturepedic territory. It's the staying power of the material that I continue to call on the carpet - for an ostensibly timeless genre, most of the music of IZUKAITZ is as ephemeral as the most transitory of pop. Perhaps they really play a live style which needs to be experienced with all the senses, but I doubt we will ever know.

This disk has the potential to be a hit with those who enjoy sprightly traditional music that acknowledges the significance of the progressive rock of the time without fully absorbing it. It's the recommended IZUKAITZ album, and warrants 2.5 stars, but I am rounding down due to aforementioned weaknesses.