The second of my CD purchases from the UK has been in heavy rotation over the last three days, or at least as heavy as being ultra-concerned with the Toad work has allowed. This one has a bit more contemporary relevance than Messers Emerson, Lake and Palmer having been released very recently. But Steven Wilson's Grace For Drowning for all its contemporaneity manages to evoke the great prog rock albums of the early-seventies, perhaps not surprisingly as Mr Wilson has been busy of late re-mixing the early items in the Crimson catalogue.
There are several passages that are eerily reminiscent of passages from Crimso's Lizard, and that's no bad thing to these ears, Lizard being, in some ways, my favourite album from the early years. And Theo Travis's flute evokes memories of the great Mel Collins on that most neglected of instruments in modern rock. But there's also plenty to listen to that sounds completely, refreshingly, new and original.
No wonder this is getting onto lists of the best CDs of recent years. I've fallen in love with the genre all over again. Prog rules, man!
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