AS THE WORLD

This band's music has been compared to that of GENTLE GIANT. Well I'm not a fan of GENTLE GIANT, which may explain why I find the music on this album very good, but not stellar. That said, I actually prefer it to the music of GENTLE GIANT and have grown to enjoy this album over the last year.

The musicianship is unquestionable, the playing is tight, the music full of fast time and pitch changes (not necessarily a good thing in itself, in my book), the use of instruments excellent - particularly the guitar and keyboards - and yet for many months it did not excite me. I could listen to the album in the background and did find it quite pleasing, but it didn't really click with me for over a year.

There are some lovely melodies interspacing the sometimes frantic playing. I'm a moderate fan of Canadian band BARENAKED LADIES and find the music on this album reminds me a little of that band's music, although the music of ECHOLYN is more complex. 'The Cheese Stands Alone' reminds me of Oogie Boogie's song in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas! Like fellow reviewer James Lee, I too found the beginning of 'A Short Essay' reminiscent of QUEEN, but that's where the similarity in the two bands' music ends.

A year ago I was torn between giving this album 3 and 4 stars and ended up rating it as a 3-star album (Good, but non-essential). Even then I could see that for many it is a 4-star (or even a 5-star) album as the quality of the music screams out at you. If you've never heard this album I would recommend that you listen to some tracks (MP3?) to check them out - you may well find that it immediately hits the spot. It didn't quite for me, but I can bet that it will for many. Anyway, it interested me enough to buy the CD and over the period of a year the music has grown on me to the extent that I now feel the album really does deserve a 4-star rating (Excellent addition to any progressive music collection). I don't change my mind easily, either. A bit of a hidden gem of the 1990s, really.