Tuesday 14 May 2013

Brother of Mine (Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman, Howe, 1989)

The short adventure of ABWH in the world of prog produced one wonderful album including many good songs. "Brother of Mine", for example, is a 10 minute mini-suite in three movements full of good music, rigorous performances and a lot of fantasy. The reduced duration of each movement not only doesn't harm the artistic merits of the track, but even magnifies the splendid harmonies, the enthralling solos and the very good themes by the foursome.

Roger Dean's art for ABWH.

Basically, this is a yes song, but lighter and brighter; it's an intricate plot, but without any presumption, open to the listener. Jon Anderson sings with a special delight his own lyrics about universal friendship and spiritualism and also the musicians seem to enjoy their job very much, so that a positive atmosphere emanates from the track. Chris Squire, the owner of the trademark "Yes" is not there, but I daresay Tony Levin isn't exactly beginner...

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