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SONIC BOULEVARD
Track Listing: The Prayer / The Hero From Cloud City / Back To The African Garden / Picture / Walkabout / The Horses From Zaad / A Beautiful Mind / The Happy Frog / Morning Will Come / The Night Will Fall
I'm not sure about anyone else, but I often find that Tomas' solo efforts sound less Flower Kings influenced than all of the bands' other related solo albums and various spin offs. In fact, if you were not aware that
Tomas was a keyboard player, you would never tell that this is a keyboards player's solo album - but personally I think that's a good thing. Nor is it necessarily a progressive album either - but again, that's fine
by me. But anyone who has heard any of Tomas' previous solo outings will probably know what to expect. In fact, what impresses me most about this album is that it really shows Tomas' strengths as a
composer/arranger, rather than a keyboard player.
We know Tomas is a fine musician and, thankfully, he has not resorted to subjecting us to self-indulgent, keyboard-heavy instrumentals, as is often the case with these types of albums. (In fact, I did not detect any
keyboard solos whatsoever until at least halfway through the album). What we have here is a very eclectic, multi-ethnic and diverse collection of tracks, incorporating many different styles and some superb musicians
and vocalists. It is probably more accessible than 'An Ordinary Night', though perhaps more laid back than 'Pin Up Guru'.
Roine Stolt does appear on a couple of tracks, but I think the decision to use Flower Kings' musicians sparingly (apart from Jonas Reingold on bass) is perhaps why the album does not reflect the usual FK sound.
Standout tracks for me on this album are 'The Horses From Zaad' - which had me furiously tapping my fingers on first listen; here some very catchy melodies are woven around a spaghetti western style motif before it
slips into a very infectious groove and rides it through to the end - and 'Walkabout' which begins with some African scat style vocals, and also incorporates some superb guitar/vocal harmonising in the mid section.
Great guitar work here too, from Jocke JJ Marsh. Jocke is the principal guitarist on the album, and his style sits somewhere between David Gilmour and Jeff Beck.
'Picture', which is a solo piano piece, is another fave. Often these types of short piano tracks are just fillers, but this has a very strong theme which sounds like it could quite happily be movie soundtrack
material.
'Hero From Cloud City' is probably the closest the album gets to a typical Flower Kings track, and once again it features some superb guitar from Jocke. In fact, guitar features pretty strongly throughout the whole
album.
'A Beautiful Mind' has a zither-like opening, and a very stately, majestic quality. I have seen it commented elsewhere that there is a strong Enid influence at work here, and I would not disagree with that. It also
contains a cheeky snatch of 'Garden Of Dreams' in there somewhere as well. Tomas often includes themes from FK songs and his own previous solo albums - and indeed much of the albums themes do sound somewhat familiar.
'Happy Frog' is a very jazzy, lazy Sunday afternoon type of track with some lovely, fluid sax from Ulf Wallander - and an actual keyboard solo from Tomas.
Generally, this is a more laid back affair than 'Pin Up Guru'. There is definitely more emphasis on rhythm this time, some superb guitar playing and some very interesting and appealing vocal work. It takes a couple
of plays, but it is a very listenable affair and it does grow on you. I suspect it's the sort of album that the average hard core progressive rock fan may initially be disappointed with for its lack of prog epics
and keyboard solos - but do give it a chance, because there is much to enjoy here.
John Morley 20th September 2003.
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