Musicians Corner

There haven't been that many new releases coming TWR HQ’s way recently but the couple that have are featured here.First up, a long overdue review of Hungarian prog band Maya’s debut album: Sadly I don't speak Hungarian so titles etc remain a mystery to me although the album’s title is Fading Tomorrows. What isn't a mystery however, is the quality of the music. Zsuzsa Garda’s vocals are impressively melodic augmented by my old chum Gergo Szabo on backing vocals and keyboards along with some equally impressive guitar work by David Fecske. The album has echoes of several prog bands including Yes and Camel but through all of that, the band has an impressive originality to it which fans of what we call “Neo Prog” these days will appreciate.

Maya: Fading Tomorrows Oskar Records 1150 CD.

Next up a bit of reading. I picked this book up quite by chance in HMV. Themes For Great Cities is a masterful telling of the story of Simple Minds, one of the finest bands to emerge out of Scotland in the last forty or so years. Written with the full co operation of the band and filled with the kind of details and insights which the best music biographies have this is pretty much the definitive work on this most enigmatic of bands.

Graeme Thompson: Themes For Great Cities A New History Of Simple Minds.

And last, but by now means least we come to the new offering from Jethro Tull. Curious Ruminant shows Ian Anderson in fine form as both a lyricist and composer. OK, the pipes
aren't what they were. The music is what matters and here we have a welcome return to form after the relatively lacklustre Zealot Gene and Rokfkote. Anderson still manages to
write lyrics which address issues which in others’ hands would sound trite and contrived. There are echoes of previous work, in particular 2012’s Thick As A Brick II, but what the hell, recycling is what it's all about these days and when the ideas are as good as these, the end result is always worth it. A welcome return to form by the original one-legged minstrel.

Jethro Tull: Curious Ruminant Inside Out Music 19802861861.