GHOST

Having purchased, and enjoyed, The Nightwatch's excellent album, 'Twilight' (see my review of that album separately) I took the plunge and bought this one. Of course, this is, apart from Simone Rossetti, a different band, but they still sound close to The Nightwatch. However, the album itself is, for me, a bit of a disappointment. On 'Twilight', Simone's vocals are very good, and the Italian accent is kept to a minimum. On this recording, his voice seems to have regressed, and the Italian accent is much stronger. Also, he doesn't suite trying to sing in a humorous or sarcastic way very well. On top of this, the nice sense of melody on 'Twilight' is missing on here. One song in particular comes to mind, track 6, 'Moving Red', which meanders aimlessly really. My least favourite track on the album. Nevertheless, there are some good moments too. Tracks 3, 5 & 6 are all very good, track 5, 'Riding The Elephant' being the least like Genesis, and yet one of the best, quite romantic in the keyboard department. In fact, the keyboards dominate this group, and I like the playing of Gabriele Manzini very much. '...And The Winner Is...' has a definite Genesis feel about it, especially in the guitar department, sounding like something off Nursery Cryme or Foxtrot. Overall though, I think my favourite has to be 'Heroes', which has an excellent melody, good singing, and the typical Genesis sound to it. Tracks 1 & 2 have their moments, but are generally weaker in structure and melody, and singing too! Still, this is a decent effort, and, once again, Genesis fans looking for a similar sounding outfit, will enjoy this, as I do, but not as much as 'Twilight'. If you can only afford to buy one, then make it the latter.