THE SLIPPING OF A DAY

The debut by Cirrus Bay is uneven, something they corrected beautifully on their 2nd cd. Nevertheless 'The Slipping Of A Day' has some great moments. The first third of the album is not well produced, and although there are nice melodies, the vocals are at best, mediocre. This changes during 'Rainbow Hills', and the last two-thirds of the album reveals some fine symphonic prog, especially in the tracks 'Slipping', and 'Beyond The Blue Horizon', both full of magnificient chord changes and sterling melodies. I could see many chucking the cd before it gets that far, however, which is unfortunate. Bill Gillham, who writes all of the music, should have left the first 3 songs, or at least the 19-minute 'The Color In Your Head' off of the album, and it would have been a great album. For some reason, Alex Brighenti, who sounds poor on the first few tracks, sounds really good in both the aforementioned 'Slipping', and 'I Can Only Wonder'. Sharra Acle, who takes over lead vocals on their 2nd album, sounds good throughout.

Cirrus Bay´s debut release shows a band that was still trying to find their style and personality. So if yo happened to know the band throught their excellent second album A Step Into Elsewhere, be prepared. The CD here is kind of a collection of tentative songs, most of them in a folkish and light jazz way. Not that they are bad per se, but clearly they are mostly miles away from the symphonic rock they would succesfully produce just one year after The Slipping Of A Day. There are some real nice melodies and it is obvious that all involved are skilled and versatile musicians, able to play just about everything. But the songwriting here lacks focus, maturity and direction.

What bugs me the most about this CD is the fact that Sharra Acle´s vocals are so underused. Alex Brighenti´s voice isn´t bad, but it is crystal clear that Acle´s vocals are way superior in every aspect. It is no wonder that this mistake was not repeated in their sophmore work. The vocals harmonies are not the best either, they simply sound boring. There are some instrumental tracks, but those are sounding more like unfinished stuff in need of reworking and flashing up.

Not that all is lost, though. The second half of the album has some hidden gems like Through Stone Walls and Slipping, both fine symphonic prog stuff that certainly are kind of blueprints for their next release. Not surprisingly they both feature majestic keys and Hackett-like guitars (still Acle´s vocals would be much more fitting on the latter). And Beyond The Blue Horizon is a beautiful jazzy ballad that - finally! - gives Sharra Acle a chance to show how her vocal prowness can improve a song.

Conclusion: if you want to get some prog stuff here, go straight to the seventh song on. You´ll find some nice things among others not much so. A tentative album, really a bit of hit and miss affair. They did make some progress in a very short time after it. But clearly The Slipping Of A Day is for collectors, fans and completionists only. Two stars.

Cirrus Bay's "The Slipping Of A Day" has been out now for a couple (2008) of years. I was fortunate enough to be a part of making this album with Bill Gillham. I have known Bill for well over twenty years and we have worked on many different music projects on and off over those years. With this album Bill had a vision to bring his style of progressive rock finally into the public mainstream. The album took a few years to put together. What was acomplished turned out to be really quite good. While the first third of the album does suffer from some studio over dubbing problems (My vocals were overdubbed with Bills vocals) the rest of the album is great! Bill composed all of the music and lyrics for The Slipping Of A Day. The length of the CD is about 77 minutes. The two songs that I actually sing on the album are Slipping and I Can Only Wonder along with Sharra Acle on both tracks. Both Sharra Acle and Anisha Gillham play a large part in giving Cirrus Bay it's sound. The music is in the vein of perhaps 70's style Genesis, Camel or Renaissance. Sharra has an almost Annie Haslam style voice which really lifts the songs up.

But don't let that 70's style moniker fool you. Cirrus Bay is today's style of progressive music! If you enjoy progressive music I am sure you won't be disappointed!

Bill has a second album out entitled A Step Into Elsewhere which came out last (2009) year. It also has been getting rave reviews. Please check out Cirrus Bay's MySpace site for more information on both upcoming Cirrus Bay albums and also information on Bill's solo material. I want to thank all of Cirrus Bay's members for their hard work in putting this album together.

I also have my own site on Myspace ( check out Alex Brighenti) with my solo work. Please drop by and visit.

Thanks Alex Brighenti