WELCOME

This is going to sound a bit condemning, but there's simply some swell music on this album. This is pretty much the epitome of a crossover prog release: slightly idiosyncratic time shifts, shimmery organ swirls, occasionally unusual lyrical motifs...but it's all so dang *listenable.* If anything, they are just barely too odd to find their niche as a straightforward pop-rock band, but not odd enough to warrant exclamations over breathtaking compositions and musical virtuosity. This is prog-pop, with a tip of the musical hat to the atmospherics of psychedelia: lots of great hooks, too. I'm adding on the extra star for lyrical content, which is pretty impressive overall, as well as for the occasional tasteful intrusion of a classical theme. If you decide to go hunting down a copy, be certain to get the bonus track remaster. It comes with a great, compact prog epic called Sweet Medusa that is not to be missed.