Some albums aren’t the sort of work you can easily categorize and the more personal they are the more the reviewer is doomed to failure by trying to put them in a box. Mike Thompson’s album is one such work – which takes in progressive and classic rock and a good few points in-between.
Opener ‘The River’ eases you in slowly though with a classic sound that has a bit of Bowie about it to go with its progressive heart. But if you think that tells the story you’re wrong – there’s everything here from the guitar of ‘Radio Cosmos’ to the glorious recapturing of New Wave on ‘The One.’
Elsewhere you get little tastes of everything to pique your interest – there’s the a capella female vocal that makes ‘Jaded’ shine, the Metal of ‘Baggage’ and the piano led and Folk-tinged Pop of ‘Homestead.’
Add in some Rock and Roll courtesy of ‘Hype’ and the cover of Jay Ferguson’s (Spirit) best known solo song ‘Thunder Island’ with added notes of Punk and Reggae and you have an intriguing mix but also a challenging one that ends with the progressive and challenging ‘Memories of You.’
If you crave ‘eclectic’ this is it! And cameos from Country singer Colin Raye and Rocker Mark Slaughter add an extra point of interest.