Transience is the solo outing from Land's End bass player/keyboard player Fred Hunter. Because he uses singer/guitarist Jeff McFarland, drummer Mark Lavallee and guitarist Francisco 'Kiko' Neto on his album Sliding, he has thus used all of Land's End, which makes it damn difficult to talk about this as a solo album. Yet the subjects are very close to the living world of Hunter because he chose those places on earth that left a strong impression behind. Together with Jeff, he visited many nice places, and whilst he was visiting, yet again, one of the deserts in America, whether it was California, Arizona or Nevada, his inspiration was once again stimulated resulting in the song "Desert Falls." Then one place after the another followed and before he knew it he had completed a whole album. "At Squaw Peak" floats between nice sounding synths and the unmistakable voice of McFarland in the direction of a wild guitar solo just the way we like to hear it. An Arabian glow sets over Sliding courtesy of the rich percussion. The long "Desert Falls" leaves the predictable road and by means of saxophone it continues in a soft jazzy style. As the album continues it becomes clear how close Fransisco Neto's guitar sounds to that of Dave Gilmour. Then again "Utah Revisited" sounds very close to Pink Floyd during their The Wall period, whilst Steve's sax tries to get close to the great Dick Parry. Also in "The Seven Pools" we come across some Pink Floyd references especially in those sequences where repetitive acoustic guitar melts together with synths whilst finally a bluesy electric guitar cuts like a burning torch through thick snow. Fans of Land's End can certainly call this one a "must have." Reveiwed by : John 'Bobo' Bollenberg |
