Z Plan - Circus | ||
Tracks:
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Album Cover: ![[Image]](../../cd_images/zplan04b.jpg)
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Label: Victory Alley Records Producer: Peter Hodson, Jeff Cannata & Z Plan Year: 1998 Total Playing Time: 47:27 m:s Review date: 26 October 1999 |
| Web site: http://www.z-plan.com
Email: | ||
| Rating: 8.5 | ||
| Verdict: In a world of bland & unoriginal music, Z Plan have created a unique sound and an uplifting album. | ||
| This album was actually released back in 1998, but it has only recently come to my attention. I've checked out a few places around the web and the reaction when it was first released was very positive.
The band play AOR, but it isn't of the bog standard variety. The Z Plan style is a gentle form of AOR with an emphasis on strong vocal harmonies. In terms of comparisons Boston, but a chilled out Boston playing a semi-acoustic style. "So Long To Yesterday" opens the album with some Boston style harmonies. "Guilty" is one of the mid-tempo semi-acoustic tunes that is typical of the band. I'm reminded of a band called Bread. It is time to sit down, relax and enjoy. The next batch of songs all follow the lead of "Guilty" i.e. semi-acoustic & great vocal harmonies. "Maybe" isn't so much a ballad as a lullaby where you'll enjoy the vocals so much that you'll hardly notice what else is going on the track. I found "Believe" and "Time Will Heal You" uplifting to listen to. My one criticism is that I sometimes find this bit of the album a bit 'one-paced', but I guess on those occasions I just haven't chilled out enough. "Don't Wanna Wait" breaks the pattern when the band pick up the pace and the Boston style sound is in evidence again. This is at it's strongest on the rockiest song on the album, "Part Of A Dream". Once the band get fired up there is no stopping them. "Let Love Lead The Way" is the third rocker in a row. Needless to say the vocal harmonies are just as good on the rockers as the mid-tempo numbers. Z Plan leave you quietly contemplating the "Lessons" of love. More and more it would appear that artists in the AOR and Melodic Rock arena seem happy to borrow ideas and styles from both their contemporaries and predecessors. That is why a band such as Z Plan are so refreshing. Whilst there are many who have gone for the softer end of the AOR market and ended up producing albums full of sappy ballads, Z Plan have gone for a 'gentle' style. In the lyrics department most of the songs seem to have an underlying positive message, rather than languishing in the self pity of 'lost love' songs more typical of the AOR genre. The end result is an album which forges it's own identity and which I can best describe as an uplifting experience. | ||
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