Sometimes CDs have the ability to grab you after just one spin in your player. Bu:gen'heigen of the british band Bugenhagen is just that kind of CD. Starting as a Pink Floyd Tribute band Bugenhagen started to write their own material. Driving force behind the band is John Turpin - vocals, guitars, keyboard. He wrote all the music for this album. Besides Turpin the band exists of Paul Fligg -drums en Daneo Duran -bass. The influence of Pink Floyd is obviously present on this release. Without You By My Side is a perfect opener for the album. Multiple vocals and a haunting guitar riff. The vocals of Turpin remind me a bit of Mark Hollis of Talk Talk. But In This Changing House is more an experimental song. Lots of atmospheric keyboards that lead to the main riff. Lots of effects on the vocals to create a kind of dark sound. The Greatest Of Them All, my personal favorite, starts out with a sample of that terrible weekend in Imola in 1994. After that a beautiful piano riff starts. All leading into a beautiful guitar solo in the end. The song reminds me of the work of Splinter. The Dutch progressive group from Zutphen. On The Beach is divided in three sections. The opening section is really an opening statement for the middle part. Kind of Pigs On The Wing was for Dogs on Pink Floyd's Animals (1977). The middle being the main part of the song. A very relaxing atmosphere is created with a lovely melody. The end section leads into a very Marillion kind of outro with a beautiful guitar riff. Reckless is a lovely song to conclude the CD. A very uplifting song which will be stuck in your head long time after this album has finished. Apart from the fact that the numbers are very well written and the songs beautiful, the diversity of the vocals of Turpin is probably the biggest asset of this release. For everyone who is into the previous mentioned bands, I recommend this CD. The only shortcoming is that with a 30 minutes playing time, it's just way too short. **** Twan Terwindt (edited by Tracy van Os van den Abeelen) Where to buy? |
