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Elly Roberts reviews
Arion Records
- January 2008
- Rating: 6/10
Not such a terrible thing after all!
With Prog-Rock having made little impact, despite its recent efforts, No Machine may have some trouble making it big. Nevertheless there are some interesting thingsgoing on here. Comparisons with legends of the genre are not easily made. Somewherealong the line, possibly early Genesis and Marillion come to mind.
That said, No Machine sounds fresh combining somewhat over indulgent wanderings withpop/rock melodies and harmonies, so its an interesting fusion. A Pop/Prog Rockbegins (Terrible Thing) with spacey keys followed by a crunchy rock blastand wiry guitar solos.
The lead singers vocals are powerful and assured. Peculiarly, its a Ska-likeromp that ensues of the pacey I Get Down with lashings of organ and rusticriffs, making it quite a two song onslaught. In sharp contrast, they opt for amuch mellower Tell Me, sounding, like, again, Marillion.
They chose Tell Me as their first single, whereas I Choose You wouldvebeen a better release, with its greater radio-friendly accessibility. The next threeare rock ballads, with Elevator proving the best of the midway bunch.More Marillion/Genesis influences re-surface for the power loaded The Races:big keys and a whopping solo compound the Prog Rock drama.
Sunshine reverts to their pop subtlety, with rippling bass-lines and neatdrum beats, supported by sunny vocal backups, and its a close as they come toanother radio single, which is probably the only way theyre going to get massexposure. Diamond Ring is heavy on the keys and Queen-like big harmony backups.
To date, No Machine havent found their own direction, but with time they might.
File under: promising.
Weblinks: myspace.com/nomachinemusic
The full list of tracks included are :
1. A Terrible Thing
2. I Get Down
3. Tell Me
4. I Choose You
5. Divine
6. Elevator
7. Sha La La Lady
8. The Races
9. Sunshine (aint no friend of mine)
10. There Are Forces
11. Diamond Ring
Elly Roberts passed away in 2011, but he was a man who was so passionate about all types of music and loved meeting his musical heroes, such as Mick Hucknall at a book signing at the Trafford Centre, Manchester in 2007.
A former teacher and also a music journalist, DJ and radio presenter on local community station Calon FM, plus appearances on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 2, Elly started doing reviews for DVDfever.co.uk in 2004 and he did the majority of the CD and concerts reviews on the website.
I know also that he loved getting away for the summer to Spain and I hope that wherever he is now he is enjoying the hot sunshine and, as one of his friends has said on his Facebook page, that he is interviewing his musical heroes.