THORNE, STEVE - ISLAND OF IMBECILES (SUPER 2016 PROG/DIGI-PAK)

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Ten fantastic, finely crafted melodic tracks from one of the UK’s finest multi- instrumentalists, assisted by SPOCK’S BREARD and KING CRIMSON members!

Steve Thorne has been writing and recording top quality albums since 2005. He is an extremely versatile multi-instrumentalist, mixing vocal and instrumental parts on all of his albums, creating music that falls firmly in the Neo-Prog sub-genre where meaningful lyrics and melodic guitar and keyboard work share in equal measure.
Look no further than the likes of PALLAS, MARILLION, PENDRAGON, IQ and CAMEL for the classic examples of this Prog sub-genre, but virtually on his own, Steve Thorne does it as well as it can be done, and his past four albums have all substantially documented that fact.

‘Island Of The Imbeciles’ features guest appearances from (as always): Nick D’Virgilio (SPOCK’S BREARD) and Tony Levin (KING CRIMSON / Peter Gabriel band), plus Robin Armstrong and James Mclaren.
Steve himself plays all other parts, and on some tracks he literally plays every instrument, but listening to his music, you honestly would never know!

For ‘Island Of The Imbeciles’ Steve features ten brand new finely crafted songs for his 5th and possibly final solo project. There are many highlights, but every song on ‘Island Of Imbeciles’ has a strong hook and tells a powerful lyrical story - a mixture of political comment, opinion and lamentation on modern life, and it's effect upon individuals spiritually and physically.
There are similarities here for both the song writing and playing of Steve Thorne to the more melodic side of Steven Wilson’s many music styles, and this album bears itself as a very fine example of both…. Plus, his vocal style is not that dissimilar either!
The playing is first class throughout and the music is beautifully produced, with the guitar and keyboard work particularly outstanding. In actual fact, it is all but impossible to tell whether a track is a multi-tracked Steve, or he together with his guests! A highlight on the keyboards side is the frequent use of the sound of the magical Mellotron… a point that will be savoured by the Prog traditionalists amongst you!

So, if you like your Prog to be packed full of, melodic and lyrically strong songs, backed with terrific musicianship, you really can’t get much better than ‘Island Of The Imbeciles’.

Footnote…
You will have read the indication above that Steve Thorne is on record as saying that ‘Island Of The Imbeciles’ is to be his last album!! If this turns out to be the case, it will be a huge loss to the music buying public, and tragic (but understandable in some respects) to hear that someone as talented as Steve Thorne may have decided that he has had enough of the music business!
It’s never easy to get anywhere in this business and only the very lucky few (and not always the most talented ones at that) make a good living out of it. It’s crazy when you think that even a musician/composer of the current stature (in the Prog world) of the aforementioned Steven Wilson - despite being at the top of his game, having a good record company behind him, and being able to sell-out London’s Royal Albert Hall for several nights on the trot - still doesn’t get exposure on mainstream radio and television that he most certainly deserves?
It’s really all down to the “type” of music he makes! So what chance does an equally talented, but even lesser-known independent artist like Steve Thorne have? Ok, hard core Prog fans get to hear about musicians like Steve via companies like CDS Towers, but outside of our domains exposure is always going to be limited without much wider media support. For now all we can do is continue to do what we can to assist Steve and other quality artists like him in the hope that our customers will in turn support their releases with orders.

STEVE THORNE: ISLAND OF THE IMBECILES Track List:

01. In The Frame (5:11)
02. Animal (6:31)
03. Colours Of Torment (4:44)
04. Don't Fear Tomorrow (3:47)
05. Island Of The Imbeciles (3:41)
06. Dear Mother Earth (3:25)
07. Let Me Down (4:48)
08. Ancestors (4:36)
09. Ashes (6:49)
10. They Are Flesh (6:49)

TPT – 50:23