Cinnabar - Restless Woman

Hear The Track Here

Here's a track that comes with a couple of caveats from Cinnabar's Gary Judge (the other member being Matt Tyson of course). 'I know you do not enjoy prog rock' he writes, in what is probably the understatement of all time. 'I see this un-plugged tune as almost folk' he says, desperately trying to sugar the bitter pill. 'It is prog rock' he then commits the cardinal sin of admitting it. 'As it changes from time' he adds, as if in defence. Truth is, he shouldn't have bothered because while I do indeed have a lifelong antipathy towards the actual genre, I can still recognise when something is THAT good. Matter of fact, out of the pitifully few Must Have ratings I have given to the genre, Cinnabar have snagged at least four over the years.

The difference, I think, is perspective. See, where the old notion of prog rock set my stomach a-churning, my eyes rolling and my mind wandering, but some of the newer purveyors of the genre have certainly changed my mind. It started with the awesome Nad Sylvan (now a member of Agents of Mercy in 2003 and has blossomed of late courtesy of bands like Cinnabar, Gabriel Sabadi, Rayon Vert and others. What I find makes the prog rock appealing in this instance is the way these guys approach the vocals and storylines, it's a cornerstone of the whole musical experience and, for my money, they are good acoustically as they are with the full treatment.

While I personally wouldn't call this folk - or even almost folk - it does have a folk element to it, supplied by the lyrics. 'It is one story told in two musical parts' Gary says, eager to get the last word in and I see that. The main musical element at work here though is the combination of 'almost' Yes and 'almost' Beach Boys vocal styles, an excellent interweaving of the two styles you have to hear to really appreciate. It's not an easy listen timewise, its a very respectable prog rock length of almost seven minutes but the musical scenery makes that seem like small change - and this is from someone who thinks 'overblown' is anything over three minutes. If I had one quibble it would be that some of the vocals didn't quite cut through as much as I would have liked.

Highly Recommended lazy day music.