DISOBEY

Comedy of Errors' debut album came surprisingly late in their career, but whilst it is a fun insight into the world of one of neo-prog's more neglected acts it doesn't quite attain the stature of the masterful Fanfare and Fantasy. It starts off well, with a dark and rich approach that would come to its fruition on the second album, but the album badly loses momentum towards the end.

In particular, the closing epic - The Student Prince - ultimately outstays its welcome and feels rather underbaked, and I'm not surprised to discover that it's a track going waaaay back to the band's 1980s demo releases. Whilst I can understand the band's wish to see this epic track - one which has clearly been a cornerstone of their repertoire for decades - get a definitive studio release, at the same time I can't help but feel more affection for their more recent work. The Student Prince, much like the title character, displays a certain naive nature which would be endearing on a demo tape or an EP but, much like Marillion's Grendel, is representative of a much earlier phase of the band's development and doesn't make the best use of the talents they've cultivated.

Joe Cairney's theatrical vocal style adds colour to proceedings and in general the instrumental performances are competent, but the album still feels like 40 minutes of musical ideas spread out to a 66 minute running time. They're often good ideas, which saves the album rating from dropping below three stars, but it's still a shame to stretch them out so thin and pad them out to his extent.