Emotional creatures, part one --- Steve Thorne --- 2005 (Giant Electric Pea)
Steve who? Well, you may not know him, but Steve Thorne has worked with the likes of Jadis, Colony Earth and The Salamander Project, and has the musical clout to be able to call on the talents of people like Nick D'Virgilio, Geoff Downes, Gary Chandler and John Jowitt from Jadis, Tony Levin and Martin Orford for his project, “Emotional creatures”. He himself is a multi-instrumentalist and a great songwriter.
The album kicks off with “Here they come!”, a short instrumental with a nursery-rhyme/musical box opening that soon warps into something altogether different and more ominous, with a marching beat and spacy synth, then it's on to “God bless America”, an acoustic offering which is either heavily sarcastic and satirical, or a totally poe-faced nationalist anthem. I suspect the former, especially in the lyric
”England laps like a dog”. Some nice flute in there, leads into “Well outta that”, a mid-paced rocker about leaving the rat race behind, with again some nice acoustic guitar and warbling keyboards, as well as some lovely mandolin from Arnie Cottrell. A powerful, dramatic ending with what sounds like marimba or vibraphone and some really nice strings.
“Ten years” comes in on a nice atmospheric opening, very pastoral, reminiscent of very early Genesis, with Nick D'Virgilio from Spock's Beard behind the drumkit. Elements of Porcupine Tree in there too, and it ends with, of all things, what sounds like a child singing into the fade. Geoff Downes gets in on the act for “Last line”, again carried on acoustic guitar but with some pretty angry, even manic vocals from Thorne. As you might expect with Mr Downes involved, there's an extended keyboard solo, and very good it is too, though you kind of get the idea that it was only written in due to his being on the track. Still, it's good to hear him on the Hammond.
The last track to feature D'Virgilio is “Julia”, a nice little ballad which becomes a bit more frenetic and harder as it goes on, while the longest track on the album, “Therapy”, is a catchy, almost poppy song with a very memorable melody. Probably would choose this as the standout track. So far. “Every second counts” is
very Porcupine Tree, with spoken commentary over an instrumental passage, while “Tumbleweed” is another pastoral acoustic ballad, very Jethro Tull, with the reappearance of mandolin and flute.
Penultimate track “Gone” features Jadis' Gary Chandler on guitar, adding a real sense of hard rock to the album, and good keyboards too, but the song is mostly built on the fretless bass playing of John Jowitt, he also of Jadis. The song lyric follows the actions of a school shooter who finds a gun and
”Took it into school and hey/ Girls and boys were blown away.” Chandler lets loose with a fine solo in this, perhaps the heaviest and also the most hard-hitting and topical song on the album. Another contender for top track.
The album ends on another acoustic ballad, the aptly-titled “Goodbye”, with some very effective backing vocals, lush keys and Classical guitar to create a fitting finale.
So that's “Emotional creatures, part one”. An eclectic mix of styles, themes, and arrangements, to be sure. Quirky to the max, definitely different. Whether you'll enjoy it I suppose depends on your attitude approaching the album, but one thing is for sure: it won't bore you, and you're likely as not to come away with a certain feeling of having experienced something totally new and apart from anything you've listened to before. At least, that's the impression this album made on me.
And don't worry, I will be reviewing “Emotional creatures, part two” at a later date.
TRACKLISTING
1. Here they come!
2. God bless America
3. Well outta that
4. Ten years
5. Last line
6. Julia
7. Therapy
8. Every second counts
9. Tumbleweeds
10. Gone
11. Goodbye