LOOKING FOR JOHN MADDOCK

Holland is a small european country with a big (and well deserved) reputation concerning rock bands in general and prog groups in particular. Flamborough Head nowadays is one of the most interesting and powerful dutch essembles that carry the prog torch with pride. Although they face quite a big competition in their homeland, their music is still going strong and ever developing since their excellent debut in the mid 90´s. No two two FH sound too much alike and Looking For John Maddock is no exception.

As soon as I heard their new CD I knew it would take some spins to get used to it. The band´s sound is becoming more and more complex since the new millenium started. It is still quite melodic and accessible to many ears, I guess, but their elaborated, subtle arrangements show a fine tapestry of intricated, well crafted tunes that grow on you with each listening. Edo Spanninga´s keyboards lines and the band in general seem to be influenced by his side project Trion: half of the tracklist is composed solely by instrumentals. The strong use of the Hammond organ, Margriet Boomsma´s flute (more proeminent than ever) and the very fine guitar solos often reminded me of Focus in their 70´s heyday. Margriet´s slightly jazzy vocals are a bit underused but are highly effective when they do appear.

As usual Flamborough Head keeps the high standards: there are no fillers, each track a gem on itself, but the album highlight is doubtless the epic, 19 minute, title track. Never have they sounded so symphonic, elaborated and bold: starting with a unsual keyboard line, followed by a slow section with recorder and mellotron, it goes through many intrumental moods and changes, giving us some of the CDs best´and most emotional vocals and finishes with climatic guitar and keys interplay. After all those years the band shows what a tigh group of skilled musicians can do when faced with some strong songwriting. They make complex music disguised as simple, like only the great ones know how to deliver in the right doses.

My final rating was something very difficult to decide: it is hard to label it as a classic or essential masterpiece in such a short time after its release, especially when compared to the band´s already brilliant discography. On the other hand I cannot close my eyes (or ears) to its sheer quality. Between a 4,5 and 5 star rating, I´ll round it up to 5. Highly recommended!