777

What can be said about 777 that can't also be said for The Great and Secret Show? The second album of the Red Jasper reunion - and, so far, the final one - is thematically and musically so in line with its predecessor that it could have been dubbed "The Great and Secret Show 2: Now Greater and More Secretive". Florian Werner takes up the drum post here, but otherwise the lineup remains the same - which may be a problem if the main thing you liked about Red Jasper's original run were the boisterous and characterful vocals of Davey Dodds, because whilst Dave Clifford does a reasonable job as the vocalist, he's not Dodds (and is too sensible to pretend to be).

For me, the Achilles Heel of the album is the same as that for The Great and Secret Show, and to a lesser extent Anagramary - the band have almost entirely dialled back the folk elements of their music, swapping out the folk/neo-prog blend of their finest moments for a more purist neo-prog approach. Very occasionally there's a flash of the band's folk past - the bonus track is an acoustic number which may be intended as a nod to that former aspect of their approach - but compared to past works the difference is stark, and the lack of any folk instrumentation as a prominent feature of the sound is a dead giveaway.

What results is perfectly serviceable neo-prog stuff, but I've heard a lot of that and there's a lot of groups doing that sort of stuff. The distinctive personality of Dodds-era Red Jasper appears to have left with Dodds, and what's left behind doesn't quite stir me up the same way.