Flamborough Head - "Tales of Imperfection" Review

Artist/ Band: Flamborough Head
Title: Tales of Imperfection
Label: Cyclops
Year of Release: 2005
Artist/ Band Link (click for details/ ordering)

The Review:

Tales Of Imperfection, the fourth album by Dutch band Flamborough Head, is also their first one in over three years. The line-up is the same as the previous album, One For The Crow, consisting of Margriet Boomsma (vocals, flute and recorders), Marcel Derix (bass), Eddie Mulder (guitars), Koen Roozen (drums and percussion) and Edo Spanninga (keyboards). The band was formed by Edo in the early 90's I’m not sure about their previous releases but on Tales, they invoke the classic sounds of the 70's. I read someone even compared them vocally to another Dutch band, Earth And Fire. I had to hear for myself and I have to agree they’re very comparable but have a distinctively different sound. I’d recommend this album and band to fans of Camel, Renaissance, Mostly Autumn Karnataka as well as other similar type bands.

Also during the 3 year span between album, two of the members (Spanninga and Mulder) formed a side project called Trion. Trion released an all instrumental retro sounding album that I found very enjoyable as well.

Now onto Tales of Imperfection. A majority of the tracks are under the 9 minute mark with a few under 3 minutes and some over 10 minutes. Most of which are instrumental. All the vocal songs have a familiarity to them which made the listening experience so much more warmer for me. To keep me on my toes, I do like a challenging listen but fo me time to time an album comes across like Tales of Imperfection that captivates me. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this band and found after several spins of the album, I found them to be quite enjoyable So much so that I’ll definitely be seeking out their back catalog in the very near future. That’s a rarity for me!

Reviewed by Ron Fuchs on March 7th, 2006

Tracks:

1. For Starters (2:24)

2. Maureen (11:58)

3. Higher Ground (6:55)

4. Silent Stranger (10:29)

5. Captive Of Fate (8:05)

6. Mantova (8:37)

7. Year After Year (3:12)

Reviewed Discography

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