THE SERVICES OF MARY GOODE

A one-shot British Neo Prog act, formed in 1997 and consisting of prog veterans of the British scene.Dave Wagstaffe had been the drummer of Landmarq since their beginnings, Mike Varty on keys is an original Credo member and Shadowland's keyboardist since 1995, Ian Salmon on guitars has been the Arena/Shadowland bassist for years and Paul Brown on bass comes from the less-known Medicine Man.They were accompanied by young female vocalist Sue Element and the band even established their own Gargoyle Records label to distribute their albums.Their debut from February 99' was entitled ''The Services of Mary Goode''.

Janison Edge sound like the second coming of LANDMARQ and ''The Services of Mary Goode'' has plenty of references to their music, maybe you should also add a touch of ARENA in the heavier parts and MAGENTA on the thetrical moments.Classic British Neo/Symphonic Prog with tons of keyboards, breaks between sweet textures and bombastic passages, alternation between vocal and instrumental themes and well-crafted guitars.The musicianship contains plenty of twists and turns, from the edgy synthesizer solos to the atmospheric symphonic moments and from the sensitive vocal atmospheres to the slow guitar solos.And speaking of vocals, new entry Sue Element has a delicate and fairly balanced voice, nicely suited to the whole atmosphere.On the other hand comes the obvious flaws.Lack of originality, every song on the album could have been a track from any of the members' aforementioned bands, mediocre songwriting, which lacks the inspiration of either LANDMARQ or ARENA, and strong similarities between the compositions, which makes parts of the album forgettable.

Janison Edge went on to produce another EP during the year, entitled ''An Acoustic Session'', again on their Gargoyle label, and this one seems to be their farewell to the prog world.In the meantime ''The Services of Mary Goode'' will definitely please fans of the British Neo Prog school as well as lovers of the contemporary Symphonic Prog sound, but do not expect something masterful or even original.