Search - Explorers Club :: Raising the Mammoth

Not Half-Bad

Snow Leopard | Urbana, IL | 10/16/2006

(3 out of 5 stars)

"With four songs spread out over 44 tracks, and at least an ambition in the direction of that other prehistoric 4-song, 2-disc megamonster (Yes' Topographic Oceans), it hardly seems quite possible to do justice to this effort, in the same way that reviewing Yes' effort would be difficult. Before I get to the good stuff, though, a caveat first.



If a three sentence comparison of this to Explorer Clubs' first album is in order, there's far less tendency to repetitious self-indulgence here than in the previous album. Perhaps breaking up the songs into bits helps to keep Gardner's greater excesses in check. Although virtually half of this album gets programmed out when I listen to it, I don't listen to the other disc ever.



At the risk of being uphelpful, let me just say right at the beginning that Broad Decay, in all of its several sections, and Vertebrates, in all but it's last two sections are unlistenable to me. It is not that the pieces are pitifully sentimental (they are), overwrought and overwritten (they are)--I might be able to stomach this; I adore 70s Kansas, for instance--it is the SOUND of the pieces--grotesquely over-engineered and slick. In other words, there is an unbearable quantity of professionalism on these pieces--there's not a single moment of lushness overlooked, no excessive touch of reverb skipped. It just all comes off as a sock puppet with no spirit, soul, or life. Made me cringe.



A part of the problem of appreciating what good there is on this album certainly involves expectation. Most clearly, this may be seen in Steve Walsh's vocals. There's not much left of the voice from Kansas' heyday, but what he still has is passion, articulation, and a sense of how to wrap words around a melody (or lack of it). Compared to the most recent Kansas efforts, where Walsh does indeed sound pitiful, if not embarrassing, he seems to have found a niche here in which he can still bust out. Maybe it is just because he is not singing known, recognizable Kansas songs. In any case, he's certainly a positive part of what makes "Passage to Paralysis" stand out. Strangely, even the lyrics have a degree of grandeur; maybe they're not his.



As for the music itself, for whatever reason (perhaps to accommodate the many guest musicians on the disc) the piece is broken up into 13 parts and clocks in at around 15 minutes. The opening bit, a keyboard fanfare that seems to have taken its lesson in tone and timbre from Steve Howe's book of really ugly decisions, is almost enough to make one immediately skip to another disc. However, Section 2, at 37 seconds, features a tonally tweaked keyboard-piano line, replete with voice (might be a keyboard voice). It's at least a little harmonically atypical, and ends with a nice crunching afterthought. The galloping drum line laid down by Bozzio at the beginning of the next section at first reeks of cheese and bad things yet to come. Happily, that's short-lived, and an energetic, handsome guitar display busts loose instead. It is nothing that is going to prompt anyone to declare a new revolution in prog, but it's lively enough.



With Section 4, Walsh enters, singing a melody almost without reference to the arpegiated guitars and slow, stately lines underneath. The whole thing is very nicely grand, and worth listening to more than once. For no apparent reason, section 5 follows indistinguishably from the previous, continuing in the same vein. Section 6 introduces an uptempo slithery guitar line, with a wall of voices unhingedly cruising along over the top of it--a very nice mix of elements, that succeeds in continuing the energy from before. Section 7 melts into some particularly languid keyboard ambience--Bozzio keeps up the frentic drum pace, alternately reminiscent of the drumming on Bowie's "Station to Station" and annoying; the contrast seems out of place. Section 8-11 reprises Walsh's crooning and the slithery guitar line, this time with a zippy Hammond-like solo. Still safely in the conventional zone here, it's hard not to find the energy infectious, especially when the solo guitar slides in, showing off. This is especially nice on headphones.



Section 12 breaks the mood completely, resorting to a keyboard-organ driven chord progression in the "grand" vein. Ending on a big, long, impressively drawn out vocal note, the angular lead that heads into the last section sounds a bit too much as if played on the "orchestra hit" patch. This falls off, and ends the piece in a nice, tube-amp sounding keyboard environment. Of course, this is meant as a prelude to the next song (Broad Decay), which I skip.



Gigantipithicus (a 20+ minute instrumental) starts off with a big sustained bass over which guitar chords crunch along, by way of a kind of fanfare. A thick uptempo bass line then introduces a guitar, then keyboard, jam that extends from Part 2 to Part 5. Again, there's nothing particularly inspired here, but it's solid and engaging enough. With Part 6, the mood changes a bit, giving way to a keyboard driven section. At the end of Section 8, there's a keyboard finale to close things off, followed in Section 9-10 by another introductory keyboard fanfare. A "Mars the Bringer of War" (or "Marriage of Ming the Merciless"-type theme from Queen's Flash Gordon) asserts itself--the Flash Gordon reference seems particularly apt, given the Brian May-like guitar progression that handsomely pops out next.



Section 11 (very) abruptly introduces a quasi-moody piano line, a pretty enough acoustic interlude, followed predictably enough in Section 12 by the full-rock ensemble version of the same, including uptempo variation.



Section 13, just as abruptly, kicks out with a jumpy bass-guitar line, with skittery Hammond organ all over the top. Lots of atypical notes, and accents. One would have liked for the rhythm section to have varied when t e Moog solo starts oozing over the top. Section 14 follows naturally enough, but in a different mood--a creeping, rising bass line with keyboard swells, which Section 15 (abruptly again) interrupts with a church organ. From the build-up (electric and acoustic guitar) one can smell a finale coming on.



Section 16 is another riff-driven keyboard solo, a less jagged version of 13. Finally the last theme enters, reminiscent of chords from Kansas' "Magnum Opus". The ending passage is surprisingly mellow, but this is probably better than a big, hammering finale.



None of the various moods really hang together, but each is developed sufficiently that you more or less feel like you get enough of each. The piece itself fares very well as background music--it doesn't seem to be terribly rewarding of close listening."

Raising the Bar

Phil Mackenzie | 10/05/2002

(5 out of 5 stars)

"The second Explorer's Club opus is quite a bit different from the first, Age of Impact. That album featured several artists missing from this album; among them are Steve Howe, Billy Sheehan and D.C. Cooper. That album was good, but this one is great. When Trent Gardner can concoct a melody, it is great stuff, which is the case here. I'm not a musician, so I can't comment on the virtuosity of the playing, as so many prog fans seem to like to do. The bottom line for a lay listener like me: This album is the best progressive rock album I've heard in a long, long time. The keyboards create a spiraling wall of sound (with catch melodies) and the vocals are haunting, elaborate and memorable. It's a shame this album will probably not get the recognition it deserves. In the prog pantheon, it is great stuff. Compared to the rest of what's out there, it's a masterpiece. This one has stayed camped out in my CD player for well over a week, and I don't think it will be leaving anytime soon."