FANFARE & FANTASY

I've been enjoying the prog rock revival across Europe and the US now for the past couple of years and, having been a Deep Purple; Camel; Wishbone Ash; Genesis; Asia; etc fan since the early 70s, the landscape is currently a veritable panoramic feast of inspired output.

Most recently, I have bought albums by Act, Agents of Mercy, Airbag, Brother Ape, Combination Head, The Flower Kings, Flying Colors, Karmakanic, Mystery, The Pineapple Thief, Porcupine Tree, RPWL, Spock's Beard, Storm Corrosion, Subsignal, Transatlantic, Magic Pie, Kaipa, Liam Davison, The Tangent, Marbin, Nine Stones Close, Opeth, Delusion Squared, Hostsonaten and Liquid Tension Experiment, among others. This list alone represents an amazing breadth of pan global progressive rock musical talent and I think qualifies me to have at least some idea of what good looks like. Like many of us, I also had my own band in my formative years (I played lead guitar and wrote songs) and dreamed of performing professionally. Sadly that never happened and my passion is now focused on listening rather than playing.

Many of these bands are either European or American, and so it was to my great joy and amazement that I stumbled upon Comedy of Errors from Glasgow. Being a Fife man myself, I am so thrilled that one of the best talents in the pack I have just listed hails from my homeland.

This is the very first time I have been compelled to sit down and write a review. Why? Well, Comedy or Errors reaches the highest standards of musicianship and song writing. Their music is creative, melodic, inspired and often sublime. The production is sharp, professional and tasteful and, perhaps even more importantly, the tracks not only grab you, but they grow on you too. I have had pretty much nothing else on my iPod for the last couple of weeks except Fanfare & Fantasy (the new album) and Disobey (the previous album). If I had to name favourite tracks, I would include The Answer (Fanfare & Fantasy), The Cause (Fanfare & Fantasy), Disobey (Disobey), Joke (Disobey) and The Student Prince Pt. 3 (Disobey). But it's all good!

Being a lead guitarist of at least some merit in the past, I have to take my hat off especially to Mark Spalding who I believe was the bass guitarist before a line up change a few years ago. Now I admire bass players hugely and understand how they can make or break a band's sound, but for a guitarist to ride both the bass and lead guitar waves as Mark has obviously done is nothing short of breathtaking. His guitar playing is of virtuoso standard; tasteful, clever, even masterful. I just love his solos to bits, and they've caused a few shivers up my spine for sure.

So what else can I say? Guys, you should be massive. You are top of a very distinguished talent league and I hope you eventually get all the success you deserve. In the meantime, you have made this particular prog fan - and no doubt countless others - very happy indeed.