PAMPERED MENIAL

Hm...this is a tough one....first of all, let's try to describe the genre of music that band used to play. I would dare to call it "lite symphonic" - so, in a way, this is some sort of proto-neo-prog...oh, forget it. Let's focus on music. Which is not an easy task to do because, frankly, I don't know any other band that I can compare them with. Not because they are so unique in a peculiar way, or strange or "experimental". All the songs are concise, compact, poppy, but prog elements are evident everywhere. The singer got an unique voice, almost female at the moments. The song arrangements are gravitating towards the poppier side of rock, as I've said before, but they're so clever, lovely and tasteful that I wouldn't abandon this band only because of its pop tendencies. Actually, I love PAVLOV'S DOG a lot, and this album in particular. It's very intimate and emotional. It's a mellotrons galore. It's full of pretty love ballads. And overall sound is...well, this may sound stupid, and I know it's only my impression but...the overall soundscape of the album reminds me of some big city (NYC in particular) during the winter in the late seventies, and taxi cabs stuck in a traffic jam, covered with snow.

I won't go into deep analysis of the tracks and music itself, it sounds like a blasphemy to do such thing when I already mentioned that the album is very emotional. Just to let you know, "Julia" is gorgeous love ballad, "Song Dance" is not what tittle suggests, "Natchez Trace" is showing more hard-rocking side of the band, and "Preludin" is a lovely miniature...

It's quite possible that you won't appreciate this album very much - it's not terribly demanding. But it's undoubtedly charming, and everyone should definitively try it.