Stacy Parrish & Steve Cordova - Drowning Sailor's Lullaby
The Open Sea
- Sorry Anne
- Saviour
- Odysseus
- Former Republic Of Us
- Fear Of Love
The Storm
- The Lonely Days
- Book
- Pilot Pilot
Death
- Drowning Sailors Lullaby
- Up On The Shore
Home
- Home
- Better Than This
- Sigh Of The Lord
- Perfect Dream
- Lost
Label: Windows Records
Production: Stacy Parrish & Steve Cordova
Year: 1998
Total Playing Time: 66:26 m:s
Review date: August 1998
The sounds of the sea and waves introduce this album. The first track, Sorry Anne, floats into the foreground and you realise that the album has started. A gentle tune that immediately has me thinking about Marillion and their Brave album. The majority of the album is filled with similarly mellow and atmospheric tunes. The first time I listened to this I just didn't get it at all. If you listen to a diet of AOR or Melodic Hard Rock most of the time, you're expecting songs to leap out and grab your attention. With this album, you've got to sit down relax and immerse yourself in the music. Only then do you start to appreciate the subtle differences between the songs and what was once a bland landscape takes on some colour.
The Open Sea builds up to the Former Republic Of Us, which is the first song to display a sense of urgency. This is followed by another slow number, Fear Of Love, which has some good vocal harmonies. The Storm's second song, Book, features some late night jazz. Pilot Pilot reminds me of bedsit-land favourites The Smiths. Both tracks in Death are mellow and feature a mixture of Marillion and the prog merchants from last month's reviews Tale. The ending of Home fades into those sea sounds that started the album. I think that marks the end of the Drowning Sailors Lullaby. The remaining tracks are from a bonus EP that is included on the CD. There is a change of mood for these tracks. Better Than This has a more commercial feeling than what has gone before and Perfect Dream features some upbeat semi-jazz swing. The CD finishes off with the most rock orientated track, Lost.
A different listening experience for me & I would of liked more time to listen to this before writing this review. I'm a bit undecided about this one. It hasn't quite clicked with me yet. In fairness, I should say that Marillion's Brave never did click and the number of times I've played it is probably still in single figures.
Rating: 7
