March 11, 2018

England ‎– Box of Circles (2017, CD, England)

The music on this album has taken a long while to finalise. One or two tracks have appeared as 'bonus tracks' on previous England albums, but now for the first time the 'concept album', if we dare use that term, is complete. Many guest singers and instrumentalists have added their musicianship to the original 1977 line up. So... Marc Atkinson (of Riversea), Jenny Darren, and Henry Dagg (to name a few) appear. Additionally, later band members from the Baja Festival days (2006), Al Johnson, Maggie Alexander and Steve Laffy have been a major influence in the development of ideas. As is conventional in defining 'progressive rock music', there is a strong western classical music influence: classical choir singing (Sjaak vander Bent, Baritone), 'early music' singing (Clara and Nina Kanter), and symphonic keyboard ideas, mostly on 'authentic analogue instruments' such as the Mellotron and Minimoog synthesiser. Extra-ordinary ideas, extra-ordinarily performed.

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