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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
28 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Mostly Autumn continue to evolve and progress with this, their seventh studio album. They have moved steadily away from their beginnings as a "progressive-folk rock" band towards more main stream "progressive rock", with a good strong dose of the "rock" thrown in from the time of their previous album, 2005's "Storms Over Still Water". That was a brilliant, rocky example of the genre that "Heart Full of Sky" takes still further - the arrangements are more complex than before, with very rich instrumentation, making this an album that rewards frequent repeated listening.
Keyboards player Iain Jennings left after "Storms Over Still Water" to form his own band. However, his departure would not be apparent to the casual listener as the sound continues to be dominated by the song writing talents of Bryan Josh and Heather Findlay, by their shared vocals and by Bryan's strong guitar playing. In essence, this is what makes the Mostly Autumn "sound" and it remains as strong as on their other albums.
Personally, whilst rating both albums as brilliant, I do find "Heart Full of Sky" not quite as good as "Storms Over Still Water": Despite bringing in Chris Johnson as a replacement for Iain Jennings, Bryan has played most of the piano and keyboards himself on this album, one assumes because of the timing issues over Chris`s arrival. Whilst Bryan and Heather are the creative backbone of the band, I sense that Iain did contribute significantly to the synergy of the band by chipping in with ideas for arrangements etc and I think his loss has subtly diminished the final result on "Heart Full of Sky": the arrangements may be more complex than before, but they are not always hitting the bulls-eye. Hopefully for the next album Chris will be fully engaged in the band's creative processes.
Criticising such a fine album is a bit churlish but I am discussing shades of excellence.
There are some excellent songs on here, the pick of them being Chris Johnson's two contributions (auguring well for the band's future) "Blue Light" and "Silver Glass"; Josh's closing number "Dreaming", a rocky song in a number of distinct parts; the beautiful, atmospheric, folk-oriented "Find the Sun"; with top spot for me going to the fantastic "Walk With a Storm", Josh's powerful folk-rocker which begins with angry guitar chords and effective vocal interplay between himself and Heather and ends with a storming passage of frantic uilleann pipes, violin, lead guitar and keyboards.
Keyboards player Iain Jennings left after "Storms Over Still Water" to form his own band. However, his departure would not be apparent to the casual listener as the sound continues to be dominated by the song writing talents of Bryan Josh and Heather Findlay, by their shared vocals and by Bryan's strong guitar playing. In essence, this is what makes the Mostly Autumn "sound" and it remains as strong as on their other albums.
Personally, whilst rating both albums as brilliant, I do find "Heart Full of Sky" not quite as good as "Storms Over Still Water": Despite bringing in Chris Johnson as a replacement for Iain Jennings, Bryan has played most of the piano and keyboards himself on this album, one assumes because of the timing issues over Chris`s arrival. Whilst Bryan and Heather are the creative backbone of the band, I sense that Iain did contribute significantly to the synergy of the band by chipping in with ideas for arrangements etc and I think his loss has subtly diminished the final result on "Heart Full of Sky": the arrangements may be more complex than before, but they are not always hitting the bulls-eye. Hopefully for the next album Chris will be fully engaged in the band's creative processes.
Criticising such a fine album is a bit churlish but I am discussing shades of excellence.
There are some excellent songs on here, the pick of them being Chris Johnson's two contributions (auguring well for the band's future) "Blue Light" and "Silver Glass"; Josh's closing number "Dreaming", a rocky song in a number of distinct parts; the beautiful, atmospheric, folk-oriented "Find the Sun"; with top spot for me going to the fantastic "Walk With a Storm", Josh's powerful folk-rocker which begins with angry guitar chords and effective vocal interplay between himself and Heather and ends with a storming passage of frantic uilleann pipes, violin, lead guitar and keyboards.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I now own five of Mostly Autumn's studio albums. They are all very good indeed, and although I wouldn't rate this as their best material, it is a fine album in its own right.
The album opens with one of MA's all-time great tracks, the brilliant "Fading Colours". Words don't do this song justice - atmospheric, great singing by Heather Findlay and some good Bryan Josh guitar thown in for good measure - what a great start!
"Half A World" and "Pocket Watch" are more laid back than the opener, but are both eminently rock songs. "Blue Light" is the first time that the album softens. I have to say that while the song doesn't offend me, it doesn't grab me either. I've always preferred MA when they are more heavily guitar driven. But that's just me. "Walk With A Storm" sort of fits into the same bracket as "Half A World" and "Pocket Watch", although it's darker tone. Another good track. "Find The Sun" is a very sad number, and so not only is it a tad depressing to listen to, but it's really slow too. I tend to skip it. "Ghost" improves things dramatically, instead of sounding slow-paced, it sounds very moody - but captivating at the same time. The chorus is also a catchy tune too - it's one of the few parts of the album that is 'hummable'. "Broken" is probably that most depressing track on the album. Beautiful, but you feel like slitting your wrists at the end of it. "Silver Glass" is another haunting song that grabs you if you're in the mood for it, but bores you if you aren't. "Further From Home" is probably the song I like least on the album. I don't find it engaging enough, although I appreciate Josh's guitar work on it. Finally "Dreaming" is probably the second best track on the disc - a great little rocker to close the album.
Overall, this is a good album that I comfortably give 4/5. The high points of the album justify its purchase, it's just that it does slow down in quite a few places.
I personally rate their albums in the following order:
Passengers (a superb album)
Storms Over Still Water
Music Inspired by the Lord of the Rings
Heart Full of Sky
Glass Shadows
All are worth owning, but if you are new to MA then I'd recommend Passengers first.
The album opens with one of MA's all-time great tracks, the brilliant "Fading Colours". Words don't do this song justice - atmospheric, great singing by Heather Findlay and some good Bryan Josh guitar thown in for good measure - what a great start!
"Half A World" and "Pocket Watch" are more laid back than the opener, but are both eminently rock songs. "Blue Light" is the first time that the album softens. I have to say that while the song doesn't offend me, it doesn't grab me either. I've always preferred MA when they are more heavily guitar driven. But that's just me. "Walk With A Storm" sort of fits into the same bracket as "Half A World" and "Pocket Watch", although it's darker tone. Another good track. "Find The Sun" is a very sad number, and so not only is it a tad depressing to listen to, but it's really slow too. I tend to skip it. "Ghost" improves things dramatically, instead of sounding slow-paced, it sounds very moody - but captivating at the same time. The chorus is also a catchy tune too - it's one of the few parts of the album that is 'hummable'. "Broken" is probably that most depressing track on the album. Beautiful, but you feel like slitting your wrists at the end of it. "Silver Glass" is another haunting song that grabs you if you're in the mood for it, but bores you if you aren't. "Further From Home" is probably the song I like least on the album. I don't find it engaging enough, although I appreciate Josh's guitar work on it. Finally "Dreaming" is probably the second best track on the disc - a great little rocker to close the album.
Overall, this is a good album that I comfortably give 4/5. The high points of the album justify its purchase, it's just that it does slow down in quite a few places.
I personally rate their albums in the following order:
Passengers (a superb album)
Storms Over Still Water
Music Inspired by the Lord of the Rings
Heart Full of Sky
Glass Shadows
All are worth owning, but if you are new to MA then I'd recommend Passengers first.
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Have only just received this and as such am reviewing on the evidence of a couple of listening - the musicianship gets better all the time and the vocals have been sheared around with Heather getting good helping - early days, but feels like a winner !!
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