Search - Salem Hill :: Robbery of Murder

A Progressive Rock Classic

Kurt Harding | Boerne TX | 04/09/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Since I was fortunate enough to find this CD here six months ago, it has become one of my favorites. The way the powerful music helps the moving lyrics to tell a story make The Robbery of Murder a progressive rock classic that begs to be reissued.

It didn't take long for this to become my favorite Salem Hill CD, overtaking Be and Mimi's Magic Moment in the scramble for ear-time. The story told in The Robbery of Murder is of the life of a boy whose father was killed by a drunk driver and how the boy dealt with his loss as he grew up. We feel the sadness, the rage, the chance for sweet revenge, then finally how all those negative feelings melt away into a new outlook on life and hope for the future. We even get a look into the feeble mind of the drunk driver who blames his parents for his drinking and society for failing to provide him "free" psychological counseling; blaming everyone but himself, of course. All this is done in the manner of a symphony with each story told in successive "movements". The father speaks in one movement, the drunk driver in two, and the boy/young man in six. Instrumental passages introduce the story and then serve as transition mechanisms at the appropriate points in the "symphony".

The music is memorable indeed, but to really appreciate this CD you should read the lyrics as you listen. That ought to bring home to you the true greatness of The Robbery of Murder. If and when this becomes available again, I would urge you to buy it before it disappears once more. Put this at the top of your list, you'll never be sorry that you bought it."