WALL STREET VOODOO

Well, I guess it is no surprise that nowadays prog´s most prolific songwriter would deliver a double solo album sooner or later. After all he wrote most of The Flower Kings repertoire and they already had released 3 two set CDs of original material. What surprised everyone it seems to be the style adopted here: this is much more early 70´s hard/blues rock than the symphonic prog we are expecting for. However, I disagree with some reviewers that say this stuff has nothing to do with the Flower Kings. Anyone who is familiar with their sound will recognise the style of TFK songs like Don´t Let The Devil In or The Judas Kiss as very similar of the tracks included here. And a few of the those could be on any 90´s TFK CDs, like the Cd 2´s second tune, the very inspired Remember.

However, it is also clear that both the music and the lyrics are usually quite different from what Stolt´s has been releasing lately, both solo or with his several side projects. Even if Neil Morse is present here, there is no influence of Spock´s Beard or Transatlantic. The premise seems to be, musically, a homage to those blues rock artists from the early 70´s. So you´ll find lots of slide and wah-wah guitars, big fat Hammond runs and some good percussions. Stolt proves once and for all he is one of the best guitarists around and he can play just about anything with great taste and technique. And most important, he is also a terrific songwriter. The lyrics are much more direct, spiteful and angry, but are very well written and on target (today´s capitalism and greed).

While I found Wall Street Voodoo a little too much to listen to in one sitting, all the songs are at least good, with some very fine highlights along the way like the very ironic Sex Kills and the aforementioned Remember, one of his best. The recording quality is top notch, the musicians are excellent and, if you like the style, the tracklist is quite strong. I never thought I´d hear Stolt playing guitar like this and, boy, does he play! His solos and riffs are amazing and will please even the most hardcore Eric Clapton/Leslie West fan!

As for the musicians he chose all I can say is that Marcus Liliequist was hardly TFKJ´s best drummer, but here he does a fine job and seems to be much more at ease now than with his time with the band. Neil Morse is also very good on the Hammond and does some lead singing. My only gripe with this album are the vocals, since both Stolt´s and Morse´s voices are ok, but they are not the best singers for this style of music. Maybe it would be a good idea to have a ´real´ blues vocalist as a guest next time. But that´s a minor issue, if you can call it an issue at all.

Conclusion: an excellent blues rock/prog rock album. The vocals may sound a bit odd for the style, since I will always identify it as a Flower Kings trademark, and I think that it will be the same with all TFK fans. But the high quality of the songs, the brilliant playing (specially Stolt´s stunnig, shinning rocking guitar) and the edgy lyrics make this a different, but remarkable record by one of prog´s truly genious.

Rating: four strong stars.