Big Big Train
★★★
The Likes Of Us
INSIDE OUT. CD/DL/LP
Veterans of new prog introduce new singer Alberto Bravin.
Can you still pack a punch with a musical arsenal mostly reclaimed from 1970s prog rock? As the blustery Oblivion, the album’s first single, reaches its close, doubts set in. But then comes Beneath The Masts, a 17-minute multi-part epic. Amid neo-classical chords and a whiff of early Genesis, this is BBT riding high, the music intricate but light on its feet. Some pleasingly wistful tunes follow, with new vocalist Alberto Bravin an honourable replacement for the late David Longdon, his tone lighter, less grainy. The MTV power balladry of Love Is The Light is not exactly what fans signed up for, and the band’s increasingly cosmopolitan line-up has smoothed out some of the English quirkiness. The drama of Last Eleven, though, is a stirring sign-off.