INTROSPECTION / RETROSPECTION

Part 1 - Introspection (46:09) 1. "Alright It's Repeating" (5:35) sounds like second-tier hard rock from the late 1970s--early AC/DC, Golden Earring, or Head East. (8.5/10)

2. "Fragile" (5:10) Gorgeous. As if 10CC and STEVEN WILSON merged or collaborated. (9/10)

3. "Silence at Sundown" (5:03) excellent, emotional acoustic guitar work opens this one up--even when Ed turns to syncopated strumming to support his vocal track. Equally as engaging and balanced with the entry of the lush full- band instrumentation. The acoustic guitar work throughout is sublime--so perfectly conveyed and never overplayed. (8.875/10)

4. "Your Own Time" (7:44) an attempt at some prog bombast--with all the classic bells and whistles--but, alas! there is very little refreshing or exciting--except for the near-Allan Holdsworth start of the instrumental passage in the third minute. It's good but, in the end, not very refreshing. The ensuing bass and drums interplay is cool, but then the return to the opening pace reminds one of how bland and standard the foundation is--it's the solos that soar (as they should) but the three-chord rock foundation persists in weighing everything else down--plus, nothing in the realm of solos or sounds are very innovative. (12.5/15)

5. "Sailing the Vastness" (22:37) nice spacey electronica opening before turning into a CURE-meets-Angel Ontalvo Goth-Flamenco. At 2:40 flutes and vocals top the placid chorsued-guitar based Pink Floyd rock foundation. It's good though it does drag a bit. The electric guitar solo starting at 4:45 is nice. At 6:30 we move into an uptempo passage for some RUSH-like guitar and precision multi-instrumental interweaving. At the eight-minute mark we gently transition into a more quirky cabaret/theatric piano-led section reminding me a bit of PHIDEAUX--which pauses at 9:50 for a half minute before building back up for a synth-led instrumental passage before returning to the Broadway-like chorus. More soloing electric guitar throughout the 12th minute (with some nice drumming beneath) until another go at the chorus around the 13-minute mark. This is then followed by a rather stark and emotional spacious piano section over which Moog-like synth solos mournfully. The piano continues this mournful mood in the fifteenth minute until bombastic cymbal hits signal a shift into a more classic rock standard rock 4/4 motif. Ed sings forcefully in an almost Billy Joel like voice over this "Beautiful Loser" (Bob Seger) passage. At 16:45 the music shifts back to one of the previous themes for what sounds/feels like a "finish" vocal section before a very emotional electric guitar solo fills a minute between 17:30 and 18:30. A quirky staccato multi-guitar section ensues over which Ed sings in a kind of ending overture like way--as if he's summarizing the plight and fight his hero just went through. Synth solo and then a key change to help switch back to a previous motif for singing about the moral of the story. Sounds very much like SPOCK'S BEARD "The Light." (38/45)

Part 2 - Retrospection (48:00) 6. "A Whole New Beginning" (8:49) an interesting and entertaining mélange of seemingly disparate styles and moods, from heavy blues-rock to light Latin and more. (17.666667/20)

7. "Retrospection" (5:00) a very classic rock/prog-wannabe pop song (like The Atlanta Rhythm Section or mellowed out Buggles--or even Jackson Brown). Purely set up to rely on the impact of the words. (8.66667/10)

8. "Summer of Saudade" (4:56) another song that sounds and feels more like a conventional pop Indie- or techno-pop song--except mellowed out by Ed's rather smooth, Don Henley-like vocal. (8.66667/10)

9. "Imaginary World" (4:47) speaking of The Eagles, here's some acoustic guitar strumming that reminds one of BREAD or the mellower side of Bruce COCKBURN. Even when Ed's subdued voice joins in, his sensitive almost-melancholy delivery reminds me of BREAD ("Maybe I'm a Want You") or simple AMERICA. (8.3333/10)

10. "Beyond the World of Dreams" (24:28) From the opening notes here I am reminded of THE FLOWER KINGS: form and format, sounds and sound palettes, even the odd, unpredictable switches in motifs are so much like Roine Stolt's habit. The syrupy pop motif in the fifth and sixth minutes is a bit of a downshift, but then at 5:52 Ed shifts into a little more forward-moving direction with a catchy theme to help him end the schmaltz and transition into a more 1970s STYX-URIAH HEEP-like Hammond organ-led motif. The cow bell is a bit of distraction (thanks to SNL's Y2k sketch!) In the tenth minute we return to a little more prog-oriented rock with some syncopated drumming and portentous rhythm guitar play but then Ed's voice in the chorusy parts gets (too-)heavily distorted. Then there is a rather sudden and clear-cut door opening to a schmaltzy lounge piano solo to bridge us into a ominously heavy blues rock passage in the thirteenth minute. The blues guitar soloing within the left-center is pretty cool. Ed's voice joins in in the 14th minute and does well to maintain the mood until the chorus-part where all gets lost in major chord melodies that do not fit. But he chooses to return to the sinister motif for one more round before switching to an odd psuedo-Reggae rhythm after the second cheesy chorus. It's an odd (almost Genesis "A flower?"-like) until the 17-minute mark when a strummed acoustic guitar and disco rhythm section brings us back into a very Flower Kings-like passage. I haven't mentioned the lyrics which are about conquering one's (entirely unecessary) fears. They're also over-the-top trite and sappy in the way that power-of-positive-thinking aphorisms can get. At 20:24 another purely-1970s pop-derived passage over which Ed performs a decent guitar solo for over a minute. At 22:16, everything stops and the darkened stage is left with a doleful solo piano to take us out--with a very long fade out before radio-television static noises close out the song--and album. (42/50)

Total Time 94:09

While I admire the talent (and courage) necessary to pull together such disparate sounds and styles and sequence them into a convincingly-related flow--into one long suite--I am not as convinced of the overall songwriting skill of this artist--or of the completeness of his finished product; that is, I think the additional inputs of other collaborating artists would help provide the skill sets necessary from the instrumentalists in order to "fill" the soundscapes with more nuanced incidentals. I think there needs to be more than just Ed's ideas and renderings in order to bring these compositions to the next level. In the end, this is, to me, just nice pop- and album-oriented rock bordering on Prog Lite--which makes it arguable as to whether or not it belongs in Prog World.

C/three stars; a nice addition to any retro-rock-loving music lover's album collection. The album provides pleasant listening but there are many areas of Ed's production and skill levels that I hope to see improvement upon in the future--especially opening up to collaboration and engineering/production inputs.