Steamingears,

I have to agree with you. It is an awesome CD. I have had my copy since ProgDay and each time I listen to it, I hear something new. From Chris' fills on Catwalk to the lyrics of the Ride, the funk of Re-Bootsy, it is all amazing. The songwriting is incredible on this. I love the crunch of this album.

Now everyone knows why I have not written a review even though I had the CD since last month. I do not quite know how to translate it to words.

Well, leave that to the professionals

No, honestly, I know what you mean. Even though I write about 5-10 reviews every month, I still find it hard to explain what my heart hears in the music. And for this kind of forums I even have to translate that into a language, which is not mine. I often think: "Let the music do the talking" and just enjoy it all, but on the other hand I want to let people know what great music there is on this world, especially when it's from "smaller" bands, without big labels behind them who do their promotional activities.

Thanks very much for the review

Q: Any thoughts of the mix and overall sound quality?

The mix and sound quality are superb on the CD-R. I do not have a copy of the new release. Bill of course did an excellent job in my humble opinion.

I am not surprised

Really looking forward to hear it myself and then I will give you my opinion.

You can order it for a good price at Amazon in France.

The sound quality of the CD is very good, although sometimes it might seem that the guitar-riff orientated tracks are a tiny bit lower in the mix compared with the keyboard-songs. But maybe that's just a impression I got listening to it on my diskman.

I think I wait to order it from somewhere where i can understand the language. Thanks for helping, Steamingears!

Maybe we'll get a comment from Bill about his thoughts about the mix.

.......was told mine was shipped from the USA on release day ...... but hasn't arrived yet .... after reading some of the comments i'm starting to get impatient now...... hopefully soon !!

i wanted to wait until chiming in on this. like the rest of you i feel that the disc gets better on each listen. i know i am probably a lot older than some folks on this forum but i'm not really interested in much new music. however these guys have created a formula that takes everythin i loved about art rock and makes it sound up to date, but not in a bad overproduced way. being a drummer, i tend to judege music first by the drums and then everything else after that. chris sounds amazing! whether he is being more subdued in the begininng of "tales by young whales' or letting it rip in the end. and dave is right there with him all the way. listen to him soar at the end of "noodlepoint"! that is something i noticed at prog day that these guys really give the band a shot of vitamin b-12...haha.

now for the rest...stan's playing is very tasty in a john mclauglin kind of way. it's the kind of playing that makes you want to hear more. of courseright by his side is good old frankie who should get a grammy for best instrumental (fanfare) and nice bass solo too dave. re:bootsy and catwalk are probably the most fun to listen to although my son loves 'the ride' and chapter 7.1. i didn't notice what someone said about the keyboards songs being louder than the guitar songs but then i gave it a listen and maybe he's right! if it is, it's only slightly louder. maybe if stan mixes the next cd than he'll be a little louder! no i'm kidding. i do love the synth solo's though when i'm not air drumming to chris.

overall i think this cd will earn it's place right along side fragile and foxtrot as one of the classic art rock records of all time. yes i know that's saying alot. who ever is waiting to get your copy then wait no more. i will see you boys at jamming java in a week or so.

I ordered my copy a week ago from The Laser's Edge... can't wait!! (usually it takes 10-14 days to arrive from TLE, oh well...)

.....finally got my copy today ......after a couple of plays, i am sure that this shall be a favourite of mine for many months and beyond. At times they sound a lot like that Happy The Man band....wonder what happened to them?? Really hope these guys make another one soon ....... wouldn't want them to go the same way as Pedal Giant Animals and be one hit wonders !

Pedal Gian Animals wasn't a band, it was a recording project that evolved into a band. We're already working up tunes for the next studio CD. We're also going to put out a CD of various improvisations from upcoming live shows.

BTW - what was the PGA hit?

Bill, sorry, i guess my post was a little tongue in cheek, you know what us Brits are like .....yeah i realised the history behind the PGA project ..... was joking about expecting a follow up, but never say never, eh?.....anyway it was certainly a hit as far as i'm concerned ..... just like Oblivion Sun is .......great news that you guys are writing some new stuff already and looking forward to the improvisations cd.......and don't forget that dvd...... especially for all of us over the pond that don't get a chance to see you playing live !! .... better still, come over to Europe soon !!
All the best
Al

I guess I have to report back on this, before one gets the wrong idea. Listening on a normal or hard level doesn't give any difference between the guitar- and keyboard-songs. Just when listening on a low level on a disk man in the train (can't disturb other travelers, can I ) it might seem that the guitars are less dynamic. I'm sorry if I gave the wrong impression

Ok, here goes. I have waited for this CD for as long as Stan has been talking about it. Now I am a Happy fan since H'Burg days 76 or so, Wilson Hall, Cellar Door, Rockingham County Fairgrounds Holloween Party, how long ago...............

I heard from Stan, more vocals, rockier, fusionier.........

Here is what I think.

Fanfare...........Happy, but no progression of creativity, & it's not Happy, it's a different band.
Ride..........Best track, doesn't sound like Happy, sounds like a different band....that's good.
Noodlepoint....Back to Happy, now this is ok, but as in the Muse, I personally would like to see growth, especially an instrumental.
Catwalk....very Happy, I love Stan's vocals, great instumentation, but tedious, too long. Washed out production.
No Surprise......Great intro, great sax work, keybored, enough said. Just right time wise though.....short.
Bootsy.....whimsical, funky, Jan Hammer ish, even a taste of Jeff Becky. 2nd best tune, adventurous.
Chapter 7.1.........not as good as PGA, & why???
Tales of Young Whales.......Yawn

Frank is a supreme sax player, but is holding Stan back imho. His writing is too Happy, where Stan's is a bit more creative. Happy is good but I heard it, like the Muse, 30 years ago, & frankly (no pun), move on.

Oh, & by the way, I think this is better than most of the mindless crap that is making money today. That's the shame, most people don't really want talent, they want good videos & controversy.

Yes, I am just a joe blow with an opinion.

I am listening to Oblivion Sun now, & continue to listen to Happy, forever.

Just a short correction, in case people think only Frank and Stan composed the stuff. There are 9 tracks on this album, three written by Frank, three by Stan and three by Bill. You're right when you write Stan's tracks are more rockier, more guitar-orientated. Bill's stuff is a step further than HTM I think, more into jazzier spheres. Frank indeed writes the most familiar stuff, closest to HTM, but with this band it sure sounds different, more edgy, with more heavy bass. Personally I think the guys did move on, but you can't expect drum-and-bass rhythms, techno-breaks etc. After all, this is the music these guys like to make, and you can't satisfy all fans I guess this way.

Personally I think Chapter 7.1 is much better than Chapter Seven from PGA. Especially now the keyboards of Plummer have added a great melodyline to the song, the impression I had from the original track ("a bit too much based on a guitar-riff, without a real progression") is gone. Because the keyboard-part in the second part of the original came more or less out of the blue, the structure is much more fluent now. And what about the dynamics. Chapter 7.1 sounds much better. Finally I like it that they put the track in the right order, so not in position 2, like on PGA, but in position 7!!

I have to say I'm getting a bit tired from this forum. Some of us put a lot of effort into making this a lively thing, but I have the feeling that it's all in vain. This post for example was a nice beginning for a discussion on this new album. I started the discussion by putting question-marks to some of the points Ibbyitisnt made, but he didn't seem to have/be in the time/guts/the mood to go into this. What's the use to post his opinion then in the first place? These are just opinions, all worth to take seriously, but this way it's just useless time-spending. The same with my review (see other thread): 16 views, no comments. Well, maybe I shouldn't have translated it, or just have sent it to Frank. All the work Befrost put into this forum and all the ones who care to post now and then seem to be "pearls before swine". I guess it's time for a time out...

Steamingears,

I do appreciate your effort on the boards and hope you reconsider your time out. In a lot of cases, I do not have the words, as I have previously stated, to post intelligently on the music that these fine musicians put out. Do not let a couple of bad apples spoil the bunch. I value your reviews and everything else that you add to the forum.

I do agree with you guitarnut.

I really wanna talk about the music in detail, even though my english/american is of a very low level, but I still wanna discuss and talk about the music.

Dont ever leave us Steamingears.

Thanks guys. Well, I was not really planning a total leave from this fine place, just some time of to see what happens. I'm enjoying these talks over here too, but sometimes, when I'm in a bad mood, it seems a bit useless. Thank god we can soon post our lists of the year again

Thats a good idea. Hopefully Oblivion Sun will top it

"Talking about music is like dancing about architecture." home.pacifier.com/~ascott/they/tamildaa.htm

OK, we've all heard this before. But, frankly, it's close to my heart when it comes to participating in music-review threads and analyzing songs and saying what's great and not great.

I have a very large music collection. See www.flickr.com/photos/naga3717/sets/72157600805789409/ if you need proof. I go to shows all the time. But I really don't get too involved in discussions about the intricacies of music. There are plenty of people who have good 'taste' in music but don't necessarily like what I like, and a lot of stuff they like, I don't. It's nice to read good reviews of music I enjoy, but really, it's unimportant. What does annoy me is when I see really dopey comments about very good music, particularly since I think those dopey (if published) comments can turn other people away from that music and supporting hard-working musicians.

I think Oblivion Sun are great and I'm lucky to live near where they have gigged. I've had a great time getting to know the guys and listening to their performances, as well as the CD. I have no need to analyze the music...

...BUT

...oops...hit the wrong button...

...BUT I enjoy this forum. It's valuable and a welcome addition to my cyber-communications.

Mark C.
Maryland/USA

I think you beat me with that one Although I would come close if I would put my LP's next to my CD's!

About your other points: I understand what you mean, but my point was in the first place that I don't mind when someone has a different view on something, but that I hate it when I try to give some arguments that show the other side, that person doesn't react. It's like talking to an empty room or a mirror. My main purpose with posting those reviews isn't raising a discussing, but to show the readers that the album involved is interesting to listen to for reasons I try to make clear. But a discussion is fine. If we wouldn't react on other posters and just read them this would become a lame board, I believe.

Seems that he's only made one post and a mostly negative one at that. It is what trolls do. It is best to ignore them. That's why I didn't reply to it at the time.

I have no issue with someone not liking the CD. There are plenty of CDs I don't care for. I did not care for the rather personal tone of his attack on Frank. It's not needed and doesn't make his points any better.

I personally thank you for your input here Rene. We all need to take some time off of the internet forums from time to time. Just remember to come back!

Happy Holidays to everyone!

Who's this "bp" guy and why does he post here?

just kidding

Happy holidays, all,

Mark

Finally I have been the owner of the Oblivion Sun album. Thanks, lots of em, goes to Mark who sent me the sunny package.

Old favorites (and probably sunny prog classics already) as Fanfare, Noodlepoint and Tales of Young Whales still catch my attention the most. A new variation/ending of Whales at 4:06 was very fun and great part to listen to.

Lots of variation within the music is the first impression, not as much as on the PGA album but still, and well sounding and mixed made me happy as well. Every note is crystal clear similar to the Crafty Hands album. You did a great job, Bill!

Also wanna say that the whole solo part on Catwalk is truly amasing, love it. The sound of the Moog makes my prog blood boil. The symphonic part that starts at 5:07 is really wonderful stuff as well. Gives me a Happy the Man feeling. Speaking of HtM: I really dont think this album is that much HtM'ish that I've read in reviews. I believe it's a good step forward, but fragments of the HtM soul is still there which is a very positive thing.

Only the heavy/rockier songs as The Ride and in someway No Surprises draws down my overall feeling for this otherwise great prog fusion classic.

I will be listening to this album a lot, and I am really looking forward to hear the next CD that evidently will include some even trickier songs from Frank