DOWN AND OUT IN PARIS AND LONDON

I can't say that I liked this album. It suffered from one major weakness, and that is Andy Tillison's singing. To be fair, there's nothing that's wrong with his singing. But there's nothing about to to really inspire excitement either.

This album, especially the first four songs, relies a lot on the stories told via the lyrics. And while the lyrics are as clever and cynical as any other Tangent album I've heard, it's not Andy's finest vocal moment. And while he's singing, the other instruments are not often at their best - when given the freedom to play whatever without worrying about competing with the vocals, the members of the band play quite excellently. But we spend too much time making space for Andy ... space that seems to drag on and on.

Ethanol Hat Nail, which has very little vocals to it, is an excellent piece, and I really enjoy it, but it seems to be "too little, too late". After hearing this album just once, I wonder how much I'm going to bother listening to it. If I want to listen to music that relies on the lyrics, I can think of many other bands who have excellent singers that I would much rather listen to.