An album that effectively transcends boundaries and is unreservedly recommended.
Oh my goodness! I have said it before and I will say it again – the biggest pleasure of this reviewing lark is not being at the front of the queue to comment upon the latest release by one of the melodic rock greats, it is in quietly receiving a debut album of which one has no particular expectations and being absolutely blown away by it! Sean Filkins' debut album is another very fine example of this scenario: a quintessentially British prog album with all the trappings that one might expect, but so very much more beside.
Some readers of this magazine will remember Filkins as a sometime lead singer with prog rock band Big Big Train. He has a very pleasant, tuneful voice: soft and melodic as required but also with a commanding authority and presence to suit the more forceful moments: not unlike the troubador Al Stewart, perhaps. He has crafted a lengthy (68 minutes) album that is lyrically stunning and emotive, yet one that never over-eggs the cake – and that despite two of the six tracks reaching gargantuan proportions ('Prisoner Of Conscience (Part 1)' is 19:22, 'Epitaph For A Mariner' is 20:53)! To assist in his task, Filkins assembled a very able group of supporting musicians and vocalists too. Dave Meros (Spock's Beard), John Mitchell (It Bites et al), Gary Chandler (Jadis) and his close associate Lee Abraham (Galahad) – who has, along with Karl Groom and Filkins himself produced the album - should need no introduction; but some of the other key contributors: Darren Newitt (lead guitar), John Sammes (keyboards) and Gerald Mulligan (drums) may be less familiar.
I have seen the album described as "wonderfully varied musical fare: symphonic melodies and strong rockier parts are blended with bombast and drama, ambient sounds, enchanting ballads, orchestral keyboards, and great noise / electronic sampled sounds." I really couldn't sum it up better myself. All of this is used by Filkins to underline his perceptions on the state of the human race and of man's inhumanity to man; although this is not, perhaps, a conceptual album per sé, this is a strongly recurrent theme in this suite of linked songs.
The album begins with the short and quirky track 'Are You Sitting Comfortably?" in which Filkins makes himself a cup of tea to the accompaniment of a brass band playing 'Jerusalem' on the radio. This segues into the magnificent 'The English Eccentric' via urgent synths and drums and finally bass before a glorious, apparently pastoral song is revealed. But the lyrical focus is acerbic ("…he's always looking at the world through a pair of rose tint glasses, never seeing any wrong or so it seems: but he won't walk under ladders on the thirteenth day..") If this song does not appeal to nearly all of this magazine's readership, I would be amazed. Even the longer tracks should have a broad appeal: themes and sounds being linked and subtly reintroduced: the chorus in 'The Soldier' for instance changing slightly upon each reappearance until finally the voices succumb to a stratospheric guitar solo, that closes out the track..
I could go on and on about this wonderful album of carefully and lovingly distilled rock music, that never fails to have the hairs standing up on the back of my neck. It may be pigeonholed as "progressive rock" and have those dauntingly long tracks, but hell, this is music to entertain and enchant everyone irrespective of any preconceived ideas. This is an album that effectively transcends boundaries and is unreservedly recommended to all except the most blinkered and narrow-minded. Sean Filkins, I salute you!
Paul Jerome Smith
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