La Página Española de Rock Sinfónico CD
reviews
THE SPANISH PROGRESSIVE ROCK PAGE (SPRP)
Navigation
Back to SPRP
Back to SPRP
Back to CD review menu
Reviews in Spanish

Already served to
counter
"proggers"




 SALEM HILL : "NOT EVERYBODY'S GOLD" (2000)

Label: Cyclops

Tracks:

  1. Prelude (4:21)
  2. Riding The Fence (6:23)
  3. The Last Enemy (7:49)
  4. January (5:56)
  5. Let Loose The Arrow (7:04)
  6. We Don't Know (4:43)
  7. Sweet Hope Suite (27:53)

Musicians:

  • Michael Ayers - keyboards, piano, pipe organ, & backing vocals
  • Michael Dearing - guitars, lead and backing vocals, mandolin, & additional ys
  • Carl Groves - guitars, lead & backing vocals, mandolin, electric piano, d even more additional keys
  • Patrick Henry - bass guitar and backing vocals
  • Kevin Thomas - drums, lead and backing vocals, mallets & assorted rcussion

Guest musicians:

  • David Ragsdale - violín and baritone violin (7)

Fifth record of this American band, and in my opinion the best they've released so far, lightly over the fourth The Robbery of Murder. With Michael Ayers's definitive incorporation to the bands line-up, the family is already complete.

Salem Hill continue with their progressive rock, neither too complex nor innovator, but with excellent American taste and influences of the best AOR bands. These Americans demonstrate that they are masters doing excellent songs without too many pretensions and with a great feeling, and excelling themselves in every album.

The influences, specially from Kansas and other American groups, continue being obvious, but in this album Salem Hill approach more than ever to the most conventional progressive rock, to the sound Yes-Genesis, thanks to the excellent 28 minutes "Sweet Hope Suite", a real suite of symphonic-progressive rock that deserves to be already a classic one, whose last 10 minutes are really exciting. The rest of the tracks, are less complex and more nearby songs in the style of the previous album, but of the same great level as "Sweet Hope Suite", specially "January" (great!!), "We Don't Know" and "The Last Enemy", but without forgetting "Riding the Fence" and "Let Loose the Arrow".

Undoubtedly a great album.

Rating: 8/10

Ferran Lizana

Created in 1994. ©José Manuel Iñesta. Hosted by Dept. Computer Languages and Systems of the University of Alicante, Spain.

ÿ