SONIC BOULEVARD

Talking about Tomas Bodin, I don't know why recently I thought that he is somewhat similar with Genesis' Tony Banks. What does Tony Banks to do with Tomas Bodin? Nothing, actually. That's only my own perception that was built from learning the music of these two geniuses in prog music. I had enjoyed quite a lot all albums by Tony Banks which I think I could not find any single album by Tony Banks that truly stands out! In fact, I know that he contributed a lot in music making of any Genesis album. This thing is similar with Tomas Bodin which I believe he has written numerous compositions for The Flower Kings (his home band) collaborating with Roine Stolt. But when it comes into solo album, I do not see any album (until the third) that really stand out. They are not bad at all but there is nothing that is compelling from any album of him. But "Sonic Boulevard" album is better than "Pinup Guru". Oh by the way, Tomas Bodin's SWEDISH FAMILY is an excellent one.

The opening track "The Prayer" (2:29) is quite promising as it contains ambient male chanting with a sound quality of Yossou n Dour (who used to collaborate with Peter Gabriel) combined with church organ sound. It moves seamlessly to "The Hero From Cloud City" (8:41) which features stunning guitar solo (by Roine Stolt?). This is a blues based composition with medium tempo. "Back To The African Garden" (6:36) provides traditional music landscape. Again, the guitar solo is excellent. I think Tomas gives way his keyboard solo in this track to guitar. The result is a good composition. "Walkabout" (6:03) is an attractive song with excellent male chanting, energetic music that combines traditional and jazzy style. Guitar plays important role. It's like a combination of George Benson and jazz rock music. In fact, the proportion of jazz music in most of songs in this album is quite high, it's about 70%, I would say. "The Happy Frog" is very obvious in the influence from jazz music.

Overall, this album is very good especially in terms of composition and songwriting. If you like the combination of jazz and rock featuring more of guitar solo augmented with keyboard, this album suits your taste.

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW