CIRCLES

An incredibly well-composed, performed, and recorded collection of Neo-Prog songs which at times remind me of STEELY DAN, DAVID BOWIE, PETER HAMMILL/VDGG, GENESIS, YES, MICHAEL FRANKS, CAMEL, NOVA, HAWKWIND, THE BEATLES, CARAVAN, ROXY MUSIC, BRIAN ENO, SIMPLE MINDS, WEATHER REPORT, EGG, NATIONAL HEALTH. What I enjoy most about this album is twofold: its utter unpredictableness (one can never guess where the next influence is coming from) and the fact that this is such a refreshing form of Neo-Prog--imitative of the more quirky, delicate, acoustic, jazz and poppy strains of 1970s prog. I find this music more akin to such artists as RITUAL, DIAGONAL, VIOLETA DI OUTONO, and L'ESTATE DI SAN MARTINO in that it is more imitative of the quirky psych pop jazz of the Canterbury groups.

Favorite tunes: "Lines on the Horizon" (5:48) with a surprising turn or twist every ten to twenty seconds (9/10); the stunning, BOWIE-like "Sun and Moon" (3:36) (10/10); the better-than-PETE HAMMILL/MATTHEW-PARMENTER, "Custody of the Knave" (6:05) (8/10); the straight-out-of- Canterbury, "Progology" (5:16) (9/10); and the incredibly melodic and memorable tongue-in-cheek JTULL/GENESIS/CARAVAN parody, "Lost on the Playground" (8:18) (9/10).

A four star album of very clever, very accomplished songs from an obviously gifted songwriter.