Arabia meets the Celts in Babylon Rising with tin whistles, but also 
"Arabic" melody lines and vaguely Arabic instrumentation.
The first part contains quite a lot of heavy guitar, while the middle part 
also contains a large share of keyboards. In a way I'm reminded of 
Threshold here. they had such a track on their first album. 
 
In Her Eyes is a quiet acoustic ballad sung by Dave Clifford (or DC as he 
calls himself on this album). Washes of keyboards, acoustic guitar and 
piano make up the largest part of this delicate track, the chrous of which 
(i.e. the title) is repeated a little too often. 
 
In The Name Of Empire starts progressive enough with lots of organ. 
The song is quite bombastic and has enough variation. After a humourous 
flash back to the past we return to the past and to the melodies from 
before flash back. Lyrically the song is about the high days of England and 
where it is at now, and the lesson that the US may draw from that. 
At the end we get a folky excursion, with heavy bass and what seems 
to be violin (or is this the Bodhran). 
 
The instrumental Flag is an up-tempo track with a large role for the varied 
percussion and the guitar plays the lead. 
 
Island of the Mighty opens with a heavy riff moving then into an 
up-tempo keyboard part (Mark Kelly comes to mind) but in the 
up-tempo keyboard I'm also reminded of Grey Lady Down. For the rest 
this is a varied track, and this point I notice that the vocals of Dodds 
have a similarizing effect on the tracks. Some of the breaks feel 
a bit unnatural here. 
 
People of the Hills doesn't sound THAT different from Island of the 
Mighty. Again, the electric guitar takes the lead here and the riff 
is rather prominent and not that interesting. More a rocking song than 
anything. 
 
So it's time for a ballad sung again by DC. It is a sensitive one, sung 
quite well by the way. More emotion speaks from DC's vocals than from those 
of Dodds. This song remind me of the ballads that brought the Scorpions 
fame. The vocal melody of this song is very good. 
 
The final track is written by the keyboardist and that is not so strange 
once you've heard it. The music starts high on atmosphere with flowing 
waters and a wailing keyboard. The music on this track is actually 
quite good and very moody. After a few minutes percussion enters the 
picture. Very suddenly we get into a beautiful, extremely melodic 
part with a great wailing guitar solo. A track that might easily have come 
from the best of EM, with ingredients from progressive rock. 
My favourite track of the album. 
 
Conclusion: 
A good choice they made to let somebody else sing once in a while. Dodds 
vocals make the songs sound rather similar and this doesn't help the music 
if you're NOT making a concept album. The music is varied enough and 
still has enough folky influences so we can't speak of a real divergence 
from the "Red Jasper" sound, although the band seems to have hardened 
a little and also seems to have put more breaks into the music. 
References are as always Jethro Tull and the folky side of Fish, but 
the sound of Red Jasper is too typical to be caught by references. 
A nice album, but the surprise of the earlier albums is gone (this is 
probably also why I liked Midsummer Night's Dream better than 
A Winter's Tale) and it must be a sign that my personal favourite is the 
dramatic instrumental at the end. 
If you are new to the band you would do good to try this album, as it is at 
the moment the only easy way to get hold of something by this band and also 
because this album on itself is more varied than the previous two. 
I'm bothered a little by their musical heritage. 
 
 
 
Robert Fripp: Pie Jesu (1997; Discipline Global Mobile DGM 9704) ??m 
(distributed by Zomba/Roughtrade in the Benelux) 
(the label has a homepage reachable from my bookmarks) 
 
Summary of history: 
This CD single was released to coincide with performances of Mr. Fripp 
in the Salibury Cathedral. It contains three tracks that are to appear 
on the forthcoming CD box Gates Of Paradise that should be released 
in Autumn and one Midnight Blue from A Blessing Of Tears, although as is 
said ina different version. 
 
The album: 
The fact that this CD single contains Midnight Blue from A Blessing Of Tears 
should indicate the kind of music on this album. Whereas the older 
Fripp solo albums were quite neurotic (Frippertronics, remember) with 
the Soundscapes volume, the music has become more peaceful. This is even 
more so on Pie Jesu that opens the CD. The music is comparable to that other 
CD of his that I reviewed, That Which Passes, although that CD also had 
some darker, rougher edges. 
 
The music on this CD is like the bio  stated "with a strong devotional 
theme". 
It is angelic and ethereal and consists only of solo guitar improvisations. 
Like on That Which Passes Fripp knows how to bend the sounds and mold the 
soundscapes although it remains a question how much of this music can be 
made. 
I can't tell you much else about the music, because well it is rather 
selfsimilar and is not very melodic at all. Abandonment To Divine Providence 
is warmer than the previous two tracks and also seems a little more dynamic. 
Parts of this track indicate peace and quiet, restfulness. The more fleeting 
and pianic Sometimes God Hides (I really can't believe this is guitar) 
is more neurotic than the previous, but also rather dreamlike. 
Although the difference with his previous Soundscapes aren't that great, 
fact is that on the world there is hardly anybody who can make 
music like this. Mature music and you do not even have to be mature to 
appreciate it. 
 
 
Jurriaan Hage 
Look for samples on http://www.wi.leidenuniv.nl/~jhage/progrock.html
 
 
 
 
 
-- 
jhage@wi.leidenuniv.nl -+-+-+- 
http://www.wi.leidenuniv.nl/~jhage/progrock.html 
Dutch quote: 'Ja, ja, tis weer sokken in de lucht, tis weer sokken in de 
lucht' 
English quote: 'How to avoid getting a dirty mind: change it everyday' 
 
------------------------------ 
--- 
 * OFFLINE 1.58 * I object to sex on TV, I keep falling off! 
--- FidoPCB v1.4 [ff238/x]
---------------