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░ ██ ██ Artist: Grand Tour ██ ██
▓ █░░ ■█ Album: Heavy on the Beach █■ ░░█
■ █▓▀ █ Year: 2015 █ ▀▓█ ░
█ ▓ Rel. Date: 2015-05-03 ▓ █
▒ ▒ Genre: Progressive Rock ▒ ▒
█▄ ░ Label: Grand Tour Music Recordings ░ ▄█
░ █▄ ░ Source: CD ░ ▄█
░ █▓ Type: Album ▓█ ░
▓ █ Quality: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo █ ░ ▓
▓ █ █ ░ ▓
▄ ■ ■ ▓ ■
░█ █░ ▀
█ In the blue corner with white cross, the █
█ challenger, from Glasgow Scotland, please welcome █
█ Grand Tour or as some of you may care to remember, █
█ Comedy of Errors Mark II. The Bio reads as three █
█ following : Abel Ganz stalwart and founding member █
█ Hew Montgomery decides to leave ,due to musical █
█ reasons, his mates before starting up on their █
█ 2014 self-titled latest, and create a new █
█ candidate for Neo-prog laurels and incorporating █
█ three prominent members of Comedy of Errors, whose █
█ recent 2013 album "Fanfare & Fantasy" was a █
█ critical elite choice. Ha, the Scots, such lovely █
█ people, at least their chairs are musical, as █
█ vocalist Joe Cairney, guitar slinger Mark Spalding █
█ and fantastic drummer Bruce Levick hitched up with █
█ Hew and spewed out one hell of a debut album that █
█ will leave many bewildered, easily as good if not █
█ even better than either Abel Ganz (though █
█ "Shooting the Albatross" was one monster disc) or █
█ the previously mentioned "Fanfare and Fantasy" █
█ recording. And that is saying quite a lot, so it █
█ certainly behooves me to explain my enthusiasm, █
█ even though the very first spin through left me █
█ indifferent, at best, proving that you have to █
█ always be receptive in the first place and adapt █
█ to what you have selected! Upon repeated listens, █
█ the depth and creativity as well as the stellar █
█ playing from all involved, really comes shining █
█ through. Monty's arsenal of keyboards really leaps █
█ to the forefront, utilizing mellotrons, synths, █
█ organ and piano in massive doses, leaning on █
█ Spalding's slick guitar to light up the skies, █
█ though he is no pyro technician, he plays with a █
█ lyrical flair and a lots of resolve. Cairney is █
█ not the flashiest guy holding a mike but he is █
█ utterly convincing in his delivery and a pleasant █
█ tone. The big drummer is my man, showing off some █
█ solid stylings and providing some serious █
█ propulsion. And as befits recent neo prog █
█ masterpieces (IQ, Galahad, Sylvan, Magenta, █
█ Flamborough Head, Final Conflict, Eyesberg, █
█ Harvest, Silhouette, RPWL, State Urge and Steve █
█ Rothery, among many others?), the suave melodies █
█ are captivating, the emotions razor sharp with █
█ pristine production and sound as well as beautiful █
█ booklet and artwork. █
█ To thrust this to the uppermost level, we also █
█ have a real good story that is personally close to █
█ my heart, focusing on one of Hollywood's finest █
█ movies ever, "On the Beach", a doomsday 1959 flick █
█ that was the equal to other classics of the era █
█ like "Failsafe", "Seven Days in May", "Colossus, █
█ the Forbin Project" and the famous black comedy █
█ one, "Dr Strangelove". The cast composed of the █
█ cool Gregory Peck, the always weird Anthony █
█ Perkins, Fred Astaire and the suitably frazzled █
█ Ava Gardner (spectacular performance as a drunken █
█ milf) and dealt with charming subject of global █
█ nuclear annihilation, except for Australia. There █
█ is this one scene that is particularly haunting, █
█ as the US navy sub commanded by Peck picks up a █
█ Morse code message of gibberish from California █
█ and quoting Wikipedia "Near San Diego, the ship's █
█ communications officer, in a radiation and oxygen █
█ suit, is sent ashore to a power station. He █
█ discovers the mysterious signal is the result of a █
█ tilted Coca- Cola bottle having been suspended by █
█ its neck with an open window's shade pull cord; █
█ the shade then fluttering from random ocean █
█ breezes and the suspended bottle's weight tapping █
█ out random signals on a "live" telegraph key. █
█ Using proper Morse code, the officer sends a █
█ message describing the situation and then returns █
█ to the sub". I have cherished this passage ever █
█ since I saw this as a youngster, at a time when █
█ nuclear war looked inevitable and ducking under a █
█ school table was the suggested option for █
█ survival. Hew has decided in our trying times, to █
█ remind this apathetic society that the danger is █
█ even greater now than when only a few leaders had █
█ access to the ICBM inventory, while as today, too █
█ many nutcases may blow our planet sideways! This █
█ is one of those occasional recordings that require █
█ the listener to shadow the lyrics booklet and █
█ submerse themselves into the grim topic matter. █
█ The sweeping choir enters the stage, with piano █
█ and synths in tow , followed up by the glittering █
█ electric guitar introducing "It's Come to This", █
█ as Joe spins his sad tale, a hopeless realization █
█ that the end is upon us, fueled entirely by █
█ humanity's worst fears and tendencies. We perhaps █
█ tend to forget that the Cold War is not over, only █
█ the main actors have changed (Putin, Kim Jong-un, █
█ Obama, Khameini), a terrible newbie showing up for █
█ a cameo role (Isis) and buckets of apathy, from a █
█ society that has seemingly lost its consciousness. █
█ Rock music once used to be highly political █
█ (Country Joe & the Fish, U2, R.E.M., Dylan), so █
█ it's certainly nice to see a prog band dealing █
█ less with sci-fi fantasy and more with current █
█ reality, even if it has doomsday-like tendencies. █
█ Let us be reminded that Hiroshima and Nagasaki was █
█ before most of us were even born, a tragedy that █
█ just might repeat itself one day, if we are not █
█ careful or at the very least aware. █
█ The core of the album is the 2 part "The Grand █
█ Tour" suite , the first 8 minute + section setting █
█ the table , while the longer second part ends the █
█ disc with a 14 minute explosion. The urgency and █
█ despair are vehiculated by the dire lyrics, the █
█ screeching guitar work, the reverberating bass and █
█ the tectonic drumming, while the synths yearn to █
█ be considered as some kind of desperate █
█ alarm/siren to the deaf and blind. The axe work is █
█ suitable twirling in intensity, the pulse frantic █
█ and urgent, with Montgomery piloting his Enola Gay █
█ keyboard arsenal towards the inevitable. █
█ "Time Runs Out" qualifies as a gloomy title par █
█ excellence and the pace is appropriately evil with █
█ gargantuan waves of choir mellotron, slippery █
█ organ work and a sense of foreboding, 'a place in █
█ my nightmares' as a grieving Cairney intones , a █
█ glorious melody that will feel very familiar (a █
█ hint of "Hold out your Hand" by Chris Squire)and a █
█ subsequent development that is classic █
█ neo/symphonic as 'the rockets fly, and the sun █
█ burns out in a mushroom cloud' , not exactly █
█ sugary love songs about teenage pleasure, I assure █
█ you. █
█ This new world order promised us "The Horn of █
█ Plenty" and instead gave us more despondency than █
█ ever before, a 'connected' global society that █
█ constantly maintains the 'maybe', communication █
█ tools that rely on poor quality text messaging and █
█ even worse orthography, as no one answers their █
█ phones anymore. This brave new world is far from █
█ heroic, encouraging primitive idiocy in order to █
█ justify the newfangled form of control the masses █
█ sheepishly endorse, reignite the millenary █
█ conflict between religions and sects. This █
█ realization is brought home by the intense lyrics █
█ and the purposeful arrangements, a coalescence of █
█ brooding power and melancholic despondence that is █
█ impossible to ignore. █
█ My favorite track is the instrumental "Little Boy █
█ and Fat Man", the rather odious nicknames for the █
█ Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs respectively, as the █
█ booming bass leads the orchestra in retelling the █
█ tragic days in 1945 that ended the war. The █
█ argument that it saved many million more █
█ casualties (experts agree that expected Allied █
█ losses in invasion were in the 1.5 million range █
█ and the Japanese were willing to die 'en masse' █
█ for their emperor) serves notice that there is █
█ nothing humans can do better than hurt each other █
█ willingly, individually or collectively. Mark █
█ Spalding unleashes and unlatches a series of █
█ spellbinding and explosive guitar solos that match █
█ the synthesized artillery to perfection. █
█ The epic "On the Radio" is a plea for discovering █
█ any leftover sounds of life (the coke bottle scene █
█ comes to mind), scouring the airwaves in a █
█ desperate search for surviving clusters of █
█ humanity. The mood is convincingly sardonic, a █
█ mixture of symphonic holocaust and lyrical █
█ introspection that again fits nicely into the █
█ package, the last remaining link left in a █
█ radiated world of silence. The survivors will be █
█ jealous of the incinerated dead, to quote Nikita █
█ Khrushchev. The visuals can be quite arresting, as █
█ the listener is sitting on a desolate beach, the █
█ once blue sky fiery red, no communication with no █
█ one, wondering why, waiting for the end, in some █
█ kind of prostrate finality. █
█ The title track is another elongated affair, █
█ maintaining the subject matter on trajectory, █
█ traced by satellite beacons and rows of █
█ computerized target algorithms, 'desperate souls █
█ standing next to me', Hew flirting with his armada █
█ of analog synthesizers urging a sense of impending █
█ hopelessness, various contrasts as they switch █
█ from one screen to another in the command center █
█ buried deep in some mountain range (upon █
█ reflection, a music studio can resemble a missile █
█ launch control center, all that blinking equipment █
█ serving the operator). Cairney's voice now slips █
█ into a finalization of what is to happen in the █
█ End as he closes his eyes and sings : 'the party █
█ is almost over on the beach' and ' no one left █
█ alive on the beach' repeated ad infinitum. █
█ "The Grand Tour" part 2 puts the final touches █
█ (The final countdown) on the perfect isolation █
█ that results from human stupidity, 'an industry of █
█ madness' that recalls Eisenhower's chilling █
█ farewell speech, an incredibly intrepid and █
█ courageous act coming from a 5 star general, █
█ unveiling the term 'industrial-military complex' █
█ and placing it at the forefront of our dangers ( I █
█ urge everyone to look it up on youtube!). The █
█ music fits the atmosphere, Spalding unwrapping a █
█ slide guitar barrage that is completely █
█ awe-inspiring, as all involved provide the sonic █
█ background for the implicit message, a trait that █
█ is still a rarefied commodity in our material █
█ world. █
█ I generally refrain from giving the highest marks █
█ for a debut album but there should always be █
█ exceptions, as this slow burning, effervescent, █
█ thought provoking and existential recording needs █
█ to be properly addressed and disseminated to all █
█ the blind sheep out there, before we accidently or █
█ willingly blow ourselves to kingdom come. █
█ Certainly music food for thought and one of 2015's █
█ finest releases so far. Hey, you get music, █
█ history, current affairs and art, all wrapped in █
█ one! █
▓ ▓
▒ ▒
░ 1. It's Come to This 4:59 ░
░ 2. The Grand Tour (Part 1) 8:29 ░
░ 3. Time Runs Out 9:36 ░
░ 4. The Horn of Plenty 5:52 ░
░ 5. Little Boy and The Fat Man 7:46 ░
░ 6. On the Radio 11:30 ░
░ 7. Heavy on the Beach 11:17 ░
░ 8. The Grand Tour (Part 2) 14:26 ░
░ 73:55 ░
░ ▒ ▒
▓ █ ░ ▓ ░
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