STORY TELLERS - PART TWO

Although for Pete Jones 2018 was largely dominated by his participation as a singer, keyboardist and saxophonist on the tour of progressive rock legend Camel, he still found the time and space to work on new songs for Tiger Moth Tales. This results in the album Storyteller Part Two, in which Jones returns to composing music based on stories from some of his favorite youth authors, this time including Hans Christian Andersen and A.A. Milne.

Storyteller Part Two has become a diverse album that shows a varied palette of styles. There are several compositions about The Snow Queen and Jones has managed to tie his old vocal partner Emma Friend for a few duets. On the one hand, we are confronted with the colourism interpretations of Monty Python as in The Three Pigs and The Boy Who Cried Wolf (the latter is a musical adaptation on a fable of the Greek poet Aesop, known for his stories in which animals behave like humans), on the other hand he delivers on pastoral progressive reads rock songs in the style of Genesis and Big Big Train, with opening songs Best Friends and Kai's Journey the listener immediately withdraw the atmosphere of the album.

Toad or Toad Hall and Hundred Acre Wood show that Jones knows how to fascinate the listener with clever songwriting and amazing musical dexterity. The instrumental The Palace is a highlight on the album. Jones pays homage to Steve Hackett, the guitarist he sees as his source of inspiration. The result is an astonishing result of progressive extremes, which make the listener enjoy the musical talent of Pete Jones.

When fans talk about Genesis, they tend to fall into one of two camps, either those who prefer Gabriel as singer, or those who prefer Collins. I have always thought they are missing the trick, as my favourite period is that which features Steve Hackett, and this album fits in nicely with the end of his time with Genesis and his early solo works. Multi-instrumentalist Pete Jones has been spending most of the year providing vocals, keyboards and saxophone with the might Camel, but somehow he has also found time to write and record a new batch of songs which are often whimsical, even humorous, yet also an absolute delight from start to end.

After the reaction to 'The Depths of Winter' Pete decided to return to the 'Story Tellers' concept of composing songs based on stories some of his favourite childhood authors, this time including Hans Christian Andersen and A.A. Milne. As well as providing all instrumentation and vocals, he decided this time to sing some duets with his long-term singing partner Emma Friend, which certainly adds an additional element of quality to what is already a stunning album, and her performance on the ballad "Eternity" is quite superb. Back in the day, it wasn't unusual for prog bands to record something light hearted and silly, from "Benny The Bouncer" to "The Hare Who Lost His Spectacles". All I can say about "Three Little Pigs" is that I love the Python-esque approach, especially the false starts to the song. I've played it multiple times, and each and every time I find myself smiling. I have a funny feeling this album is going to end up in my Top Ten for the year?.stunning.

Apart from the whimsical nature (following on from Story Tellers Part One), this does appear to have matured (if you can take the story of the 'Three Little Pigs' into context - which is hilarious by the way). The Palace; is it plagiarism, downright copying, or very clever use of influence from Steve Hackett? (Which I suppose is hardly surprising as Pete Jones used the moniker Tiger Moth from none other than - Steve Hackett. It certainly is the stand out track on the album.

'Kai' is perhaps the most progressive fare to be found on the album. 'The Match Girl' shows Pete Jones in nostalgic mood using clever chording and the duet on 'Eternity' is equally as good.

It is almost as though the whimsy separates these stand out tracks.

It is immediately obvious that although Pete Jones is an immensely talented musician, there is possible a lack of depth that could perhaps be resolved by introducing a 'real' drummer into the equation.

However, this is an improvement on the first part of Story Tellers. Will there be a Part Three??