Member:
maribor
(Profile)
(All Album Reviews by maribor)
Date:
3/3/2006
Format:
CD (Album)
For this album, Cairo was pretty much reduced to a trio, with guest musicians adding bass and guitar. The sound is like usually dominated by the keyboard master Mark Robertson, except for "Cosmic Approach", where Brockman (drummer) takes center stage and plays all the instruments.
On this record you get pretty much what you'd expect from Cairo. Long, epic pieces with lots of Hammond organ and grandiose keyboard playing. Their previous records might have been a bit overblown, containing several lengthy pieces with extended solos and improvisations. Here, they seemed to cut down on this, or perhaps they just edited them out.
There are still plenty of keyboard solos. The two Robertson penned instrumentals (“Scottish Highland” and “The Fuse”) are packed with Hammond chops and other keyboards. The style is in a very aggressive Keith Emerson style. This is a refreshing change from all the bands looking to Genesis and Yes for inspiration (you know who they are).
The album also features an atypical song for Cairo -- “You are the one”. I suppose this was their attempt at a pop song. They should keep to what they do best -- long, overblown, ELP-style prog.
Another clunker is the Jeff Brockman penned "Cosmic Approach". The song has a terrible melody with a drum and bass background. How very inappropriate for an ELP influenced band.
Thankfully, most of the tracks on the album are very good and in some cases even excellent; and I hope that Cairo produce their next album soon because this is one of the few newer bands that I really enjoy.
7 out of 10: Solid albums but previous two are a bit better.
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