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Tomas Bodin - Sonic Boulevard CD (album) cover

SONIC BOULEVARD

Tomas Bodin

 

Symphonic Prog

3.51 | 88 ratings

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progrules
Prog Reviewer
4 stars Third effort by Tomas Bodin, this Sonic Boulevard and every time I hear this one I'm amazed why this famous keyboardist would let the guitar play such a prominent part on his solo album. Well, it's his album and obviously his well thought out choice so who am I to question it ?

Anyway, it shows the modesty and down to earth approach of this musical artist. And obviously he is in no way frustrated about the dominant role his companion Roine Stolt plays on many Flower Kings albums otherwise he wouldn't have done this, right ? And that's also one of the reasons I have such great sympathy for Tomas Bodin. Despite he is enormously gifted as a musician he is still a very relaxed and down to earth guy, at least from what I hear and know.

Now some more about this particular album. Compared to the predecessor (Pinup Guru) Sonic Boulevard is more melodic and less extravagant. But what they have in common is the structure: a standard (10) numbers of songs and this is totally different from his last two albums where three long songs are present. Another resemblance with Pinup Guru is the occasional refference to earlier TFK albums with short interlude fragments of songs. I like it personally because to me it's a feast of recognition. And it also shows Tomas' relaxed way of approaching music. Don't take yourself too seriously and have some fun every now and then. This also is evident in the jazzy Walkabout which also clearly refers to an older TFK song.

Last thing I want too say about this great album is the great perfection and production that shine through so clearly all the time. Because even though Tomas is probably a relaxed person he is also a dedicated musical artist and want his works to sound as good as possible. I have no doubt about that. And Sonic Boulevard is from all his solo albums probably the best example of that. All song sound abolutely fantastic and he allowed no fillers here. Four stars is the least it deserves. Well done once again, Tomas !

progrules | 4/5 |

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