Progressive Rock Reviews
Progressive Rock Reviews
Citizen Cain |
| Citizen Cain
are : Stewart Bell on Keys Nick Arkles on Drums Andy Gilmour on Bass Alistair MacGregor on Guitar Cyrus on Voice The tracks are : 1. Jonny Had Another Face (10:30) (Parallel Lines) (1:07) 2. Junk And Donuts (9:19) (An Afterthought) (0:21) 3. To Dance The Enamel-Faced Queen (10:24) (Beyond The Boundaries) (1:03) 4. Somewhere But Yesterday (25:40) (i) Owls (1:47) (ii) Obsessions (5:41) (iii) The Ballad Of Creepy John (3:52) (iv) Echoes - The Labyrinth Penumbra (4:47) (v) All The Sin's Men (4:44) (vi) Farewell (2:31) (A Word In Your Ear) (2:18) 5. Strange Barbarians (11:48) (The Mother's Shroud) (2:29) Citizen Cain originally formed in London in 1982 with Gordon Feenie (drums/flute) and Cyrus (bass/vocals) and shortly after Tim Taylor on guitar. But even though many critics rated them very highly the band split in 1988 and Cyrus returned home to Scotland. Two years later Cyrus met with old guitarist friend Frank Kennedy who with friends Stewart Bell (drums/Keys) and Dave Elam (bass) had a few songs written. After a few months Stewart went onto keys and drummer Chris Colvin was brought in. With Cyrus on vocals and flute Citizen Cain MKII was complete. In '91 the first demo was recorded and received excellent reviews. The following year their debut album was recorded 'Serpents In Camouflage', but the band were not happy with the result even though SI Music had agreed to release it. The bands line-up then changed over the next few years with Alistair Macgregor coming in on Guitar and Nick Arkles on Drums and finally recruiting Andy Gilmour on Bass. With this line-up Citizen Cain recorded 'Somewhere But Yesterday' and was released through SI Music in October '94. In '96 SI Music went bankrupt, but since their albums have been re-released on the Cyclops label. As you have already guessed Citizen Cain are a progressive rock band from Scotland. In my opinion there influences I would have to say are Jethro Tull, Camel, Marillion and Genesis, who seems to be their biggest influence. To me the music is very much in the Genesis, Nursery Crymes/Foxtrot/Selling England By The Pound era. But don't get me wrong the music on 'Somewhere But Yesterday' doesn't sound dated, far from it. It's highly complex, fresh, exciting and even at times a little amusing and lets face it Genesis today are not the same band they were all those years ago. Now even though , Citizen Cain do show some similarities to earlier said progrock bands, what does it matter if the songs being produced are all excellent and you fully get absorbed listening to this album. When first putting the CD on and glancing through the lyric sheet, I was a bit confused though as there are some words written down for what appears to be a track called 'Preface' , which doesn't seem to appear to be on the album, but there is an instrumental played before 'Jonny Had Another Face' comes in, which may or may not be 'Preface'. Anyway moving on, the first track is 'Jonny Had Another Face', which is an excellent track, complex, but thoroughly entertaining, lasting some ten and a half minutes. This is one of those tracks that grabs your attention straight away, the music wanders through many different moods, with some wonderful keyboardsa nd guitar, while Cyrus's vocals are reminiscent to Peter Gabriel's GENESIS early '70's period. Towards the end the track changes and moves into 'Parrallel Lines', I am not sure if this is supposed to be part of Jonny or whether it's a seperate track, it works as either. 'Junks And Donuts' is another highly complex track, though appears to be a slightly quieter track, starting with some nice classical guitar, changes to electric and Cyrus's vocals come in. Already you can sense a strong melody. all of a sudden heavy guitar and keyboards come in, but only for a short time. There are many changes in direction, mood and tempo throughout this track and it has it's moments when the band are really rocking. There's some nice flute parts in a similar vein to early Genesis and Jethro Tull. Another tagged on track 'An Afterthought', a very short track at 21 secs with strange lyrics Mary had a little lamb
This leads to the next track 'To Dance The Enamel-Faced Queen'this track has a superb bass line and some highly complex keyboards. The tempo of this track is constantly changing, but most of the time it's played at a fairly quick pace. Great guitar and stunning keyboards.It's face was really Quite Cold And so she took it for a walk Over the edge of a cliff And Down Tagged onto the end is 'Beyond The Boundaries'. Now comes the longest track on the album at a mere 25 minutes, the title track 'Somewhere But Yesterday', divided into six sections, 'Owls'. 'Obsessions', 'The Ballad of Creepy John', 'Echoes-The Labyrinth Penunbra', 'All The Sin's Men' and 'Farewell'. 'Owls', starts off with fade in keyboards, and then some intricate guitar. Cyrus's vocals, again are reminiscent of Peter Gabriel, but this is nice, soft and inviting. 'Obsessions', great bass, strong keyboards and great guitar. Vocals are superb and there's a strong melody and catchy chorus. Nice changes in direction, mood and tempo. 'The Ballad Of Creepy John', this track starts off with the vocals sounding like a nursery rhyme, then goes into the track properly, nice track that kinda creepy (creepy John is a spider) 'Echoes - The Labyrinth Penunbra', intricate guitars, atmospheric keyboards and soothing flute while the drums play in a military style. When the vocals come in there's a double set of lyrics that come at you from different speakers. 'All The Sin's Men', starting with some stunning guitar work and nice keyboards and then there's a nice combination/interaction betwwen keyboards and guitar, the Cyrus comes in with his version of the Lord's Prayer Hallo be thy shame Thy Kingdom is coming On the back of a beast again Coming sooner now But it's overrun And they're spreading their whores together Thy will, will be done Spreading their wars forever Thy will is over run Speading those whores together They little wills well hung 'Farewell' is more emotional, great vocals, guitar and keyboards with the end of the track fading to the sound of a piano and keyboards. 'A Word In Your Ear', sees some House of Lords speaker woffling on about "the role of the multi national company" before "retiring to the pub" with pubs sounds and a Yorkshire poet quoting some prose. The final track is 'Strange Barbarians', on this track ther are some strong keyboards, powerful vocals from Cyrus. There some great bass going on and there's a few other influences on this track, VDGG and Camel, this seques into 'The Mother's Shroud', this track is around two and a half minutes long with Cyrus's vocals sounding more like a preacher and some stunning guitar work and then the whole thing ends with the sound of an explosion and the for the last minute there is just the sound of wind effects and the right at the end you get an unexpected one off chord. if you set your CD player to loop you will see that this chord fits in with a similar chord at the start of the album. This is one of those albums that grows on you, now I am not saying that I didn't like tit th first time I played it, infact I thought it was good, but now after listening to it several times I think it is a stunning album, the more you play it the more you'll like it. This is an album for all progrock fans and lovers of early Genesis, Go out and buy!! Somewhere But Yesterday is released on Cyclops Records. 33a Tolworth Park Road, Tolworth, Surrey. KT6 7RL. UK. you can contact Citizen Cain at 101/4 Market St. Musselburgh, E. Lothian, EH21 6PY, Scotland. FAX : 0131 653 3776 Website : http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/xcain/ Email : abel@xcain.prestel.co.uk Cyclops Website : http://www.gft-cyclops.co.uk |
Citizen Cain |
| Citizen Cain
are : Xyrus on Bass and Vocals Stewart Bell on Keyboards The tracks are : 1. (Hells Greedy Children) Last Days Of Cain (13:17) (a) Dead Man Rising (b) Tears Of Tomorrow (c) Ixion's Conclusion 2. Bad Karma (Monsters And Men) (8:07) 3. (i) First gate - Open Yet Closed (Ghosts Of Jericho - Part 2) (4:06) (ii) Looking Heaven In The Face 4. Corcyra - The Suppliants (6:31) 5. (i) Dreaming Makes The World (11:51) (ii) Variations (iii) The Blood Plains Of Hev-Hem (iv) Forever (v) Aborted 6. (i)The Last Supper (Ylixiea's Dream) (2:29) (ii) In Deep Waters 7. Ghosts Of Jericho (Part 1) (5:24) (a) Secrets Of Hidden Things (b) I Spy With My Little Life 8. (i) Black Rain (6:30) (ii) Webs 9. Silently Seeking Euridice (13:42) (a) A Lover's Tale (b) The Stalker's Dance (c) Fixing Broken Hearts (d) The Trickery (e) The Stalker's Stance - Intending It (f) Will-o'-the wish The opening track is 'Hell's Greedy Children', this track is split into 3 parts (a) Dead Man Rising, (b) Tears Of Tomorrow, and (c) Ixion's Conclusion. Starting with some atmospheric keyboard effects and a keyboard melody that gradually builds up with the help of some fine percussion, the music then fades. A keyboard sounding like a harpsichord comes in, followed by some nice acoustic guitar and Xyrus' vocals, who at times sounds similar to Peter Gabriel, Fish and David Cousins (Strawbs). Theres some nice bass lines and some excellent keyboard instrumentals from Stewart. As you would expect from a track that lasts over 13 minutes, there are many changes in direction and tempo and theres a section in which Xyrus has multiple voice parts (A bit difficult to do live!), but it all adds to the atmosphere of the song. The next track is 'Bad Karma (Monsters And Men)', this track starts with nice drums and bass before multiple keyboard sequences are added. The tempo of this track is fairly fast with some great bass lines. This track also shows a bit of jazz influence. When the vocals come in the music mellows out with some nice acoustic guitar and keyboards. Nice keyboard instrumentals. The third track is split into two parts '(i) First Gate - Open Yet Closed (Ghost Of Jericho - Part 2)' and '(ii) Looking Heaven In The Face', this track starts with a haunting melody flowing into sounds that I can only describe as Industrial/Robotic. These sounds carry on for about 2 minutes before changing direction to a more uptempo beat with some nice keyboards and vocals. Then after a while the music changes direction again to a more mellow theme and emotional vocals from Xyrus. The next track 'Corcya - The Suppliants', mellow flowing keyboards follow on from the atmospeheric/spacey sounding intro, when the keyboards fade, Xyrus come in fairly abruptly. The next track is split into five parts '(i) Dreaming Makes The World', 'Variations', '(iii) The Blood Plains Of Hev-Hem', '(iv) Forever' and '(v) Aborted', starts with multiple keyboard themes and sequences with some nice bass lines and at a fairly moderate pace, it's not long before this 12 minute plus track is changing direction and does so throughout the track. There are some superb keyboard instrumentals from Stewart. The sixth track is in two parts '(i) The Last Supper (Ylixea's Dream)' and '(ii) In Deep Waters)' and is the shortest track on the album at around two and a half minutes long. Theres quite a bit of classical influence and the words/lyrics like a psalm. The next track 'Ghost's Of Jericho (Part 1)' is split into 2 Parts '(a) Secrets Of Hidden Things' and '(b) I Spy With My Little Life', starts with some classical inspired keyboards and acoustic guitar. The vocals are atmospheric with lots of echo. When the main theme comes in there are some nice keyboards, piano and powerful vocals. The second part has some nice piano parts and nice vocals. '(i) Black Rain', '(ii) Webs', a nice track that is split into two parts with quite a lot of classical inspired keyboard instrumentals. The ninth track 'Silently Seeking Euridice' is split into 6 parts '(a) A Lover's Tale', '(b) The Stalker's Dance', '(c) Fixing Broken Hearts', '(d) The Trickery', '(e) The Stalker's Stance - Intending It' and '(f) Will-o'-the wish', this is the longest track on the album at 13 minutes 42 seconds starting with multiple keyboards sounding quite symphonic, this then fades to a more mellow sound. Xyrus' vocals are soft and fairly emotional and as you would expect from a track of this length there are many changes in direction, mood and tempo. The some great bass and some excellent keyboard instrumentals. Well, I could never describe fully the feeling of this album to do it justice. This is a highly complex album and takes quite a few listens to take it all in. Considering that most of this album was done with only two musicians and the complexity of Xyrus' and Stewart's songwriting, I think they have done an excellent job. However, I do know that Citizen Cain are currently looking to add a guitarist and drummer and I think this can only improve on what they already have, personally I would liked to have seen a bit more guitar on the album, but nevertheless, the lads have still done a grand job. Highly Recommended!!! Raising The Stones is released on Cyclops Records. 33a Tolworth Park Road, Tolworth, Surrey. KT6 7RL. UK. You can contact Citizen Cain at 101/4 Market St. Musselburgh, E. Lothian, EH21 6PY, Scotland. FAX : 0131 653 3776 Website : http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/xcain/ Email : abel@xcain.prestel.co.uk Cyclops Website : http://www.gft-cyclops.co.uk |