My New Guilty Pleasure…

ALBUM TITLE: Flight Of The Knife
BAND NAME: Bryan Scary And The Shredding Tears
RELEASE DATE: 2008
SOUNDS LIKE: Queen, ELO, Sparks, Jellyfish, Squeeze, Wings.

One part 70’s ELO/ Queen inspired prog, one part British invasion pop a la Paul McCartney and one part early 80’s power pop makes for one of the most interestingly backwards listens of the year. The band goes from tight arrangements and crazy time signatures to overblown orchestral pop on this album, often within the same song.

Did I mention it’s also a concept album?

Yes, it’s a sci-fi tale about flying machines. If it sounds like it has all the ingredients for a pretentious progressive stew it does, but for some bizarre reason it works extremely well. Great guitar (the sound of Brian May, underrated player that he is, is all over this record), and Bryan Scary’s voice is a dead ringer for Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze.
Again, I cannot overstate that this has everything to do with the best of their influences and absolutely nothing to do with the worst from the genre (“Tales From Topographic Oceans“, anyone?). It’s not a modern album, but it sounds fresh. Take “Purple Rocket” for example. In it’s first 90 seconds the band runs the musical gambit: 60‘s surf, mid 70‘s power pop, jazz fusion and early 60‘s bubblegum.
Take the $0.99 plunge and download this song in particular from Itunes, Amazon, wherever. If you like it, then you’ll love the whole album.