His previous effort “An amnesty for bonny
things on sunny days” had introduced the then unknown Robert Andrews as a
very melodic guitarplayer with an ear for interesting moves and lovely,
fragile soundscapes. On his new album “The host”, Robert is accompanied
by Cyclops label boss Malcolm Parker on drums who complements the music in
the way it is required : soft and intimate in the delicate passages such as
opening track ‘Contrails’, dynamic and energetic in the more
electrically arranged songs. In a style which is typical for Anthony Philips
the acoustic guitar of the titletrack brings you in a dreamy world before
the electric guitar takes over introducing a feel which could be early Led
Zeppelin mixed with an under current by Mike Oldfield. In this lengthy track
the dreamy passages alternate with the heavier sections creating kind of a
wavy effect. Andrews is at his very best during the subtle ‘guitar only’
passages as in the intro for ‘Caution to the wind’. Once the arrangement
kicks off however we find ourselves in the middle of a Camel outtake from
their “Mirage” period. I guess it’s especially the organ which follows
the scales together with the guitar which give away that feel. On top of
that Russel Jones’ saxophone adds an interesting move before solitary
piano takes over creating yet another mood. In ‘Lake Vinuela’ Robert’s guitarsound
remains very close to that of Andy Latimer, yet he kind of embeds it like it
gets a mellow Pink Floyd feel in the background. Nevertheless the song
evolves towards the atmosphere we used to know from “The snowgoose”.
Lush orchestral strings open up for ‘Saboteur’ before their power is
interrupted by heavy guitars which follow an almost atonal chorus. But then
the guitar riffs almost steer towards pure authentic rock’n roll which is
something we would not all have expected. However it’s the bassguitar
which takes over and once again changes the atmosphere completely even
introducing some Morish acoustic guitar whilst psychedelic parts are played
in the background. The Pink Floyd elements take over entertwined with some
Anekdoten sidesteps not in the least because of the introduction of great
mellotron chops. This part is also very reminiscent of Steve Hackett during
his “Spectral mornings” period. Robert Andrews is also a very
accomplished bassplayer and gets his ‘pièce de résistance’ for that
specific instrument during ‘Ice angel’, the closing song on this album. Whilst
Robert’s debut album was purely acoustic getting close to folk, on ‘The
host’ he introduces his skills on the electric guitar as well which
together with the more elaborate arrangements deliver a much more
progressive endresult. Fans of Steve Hackett and Camel won’t be
dissapointed as this pure instrumental album contains numerous different
flavours which will please the most demanding progfan around. A great step
forward and the right band to get out on the road very soon ! Reviewed
by John ‘Bo Bo’ Bollenberg |
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