BOXES PARADISE

For me this was somewhat of a disappointment after the excellent first three albums. 'Boxes Paradise' is not quite as interesting or innovative as those albums, though it's still a great album. It took me a little while to fully appreciate it, as it is a little bit of a different style. "The Flu" is a very good song, catchier and more streamlined than their prior work. "Faux Batard" and "Mother's Day" are two other very nice tracks. "Boxes Paradise" and "Voices" are pretty good too. "Luna Slain" is a reprise of "Fullgast" from 'Portable Madness', and "Visions Fugitives" is a reprise of "Just a Little More on the Curve" and "Yardbird's Dream" from 'Finest Finger' (Take those songs off and you have 26 minutes of new material). Both now have vocals, as do all songs on this album (unless you except "Short Flights", which is the last 2/3 of "Boxes Paradise"). Further, most of "Mother's Day" is a reprise of parts of "Parte 2" and "Parte 3" from Franco Falsini's sole, 1975 solo album, 'Cold Nose Story', though it is much more developed. All of these reprises are somewhat different, sometimes adding drums, and adding and/or subtracting guitar and synth parts. The new versions do add nicely to what was there on their original counterparts.

There is also a Genesis/symphonic prog influence on here it seems, especially on "Faux Batard" (vocals), and "Mother's Day" (music and vocals) IMO. The album overall sounds more straightforward than their previous work, and is definitely less psychedelic. There is some complexity, for example some alternating 8/8 and 11/8 on "Boxes Paradise" and some 5/4, 6/4 and 7/4 or "Mother's Day".

In some ways I like this much more than the band's earlier stuff - its smoother, tighter, more upbeat, and more listenable.

4.5

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