Long Earth - 2024 - An Ordinary Life

(63:10; Grand Tour Music)

Here we have the third album from Long Earth, a band who piqued the curiosity of many old-time proggers given it contained three musicians from the early Scottish scene, but I notice that since the last release the old Abel Ganz rhythm section has departed with neither Gordon Mackie nor Ken Weir still involved. David McLachlan (bass) and Alex Smith (drums, triangle) have been brought into the fill those gaps, with the rest of the line-up still Martin Haggarty (lead & backing vocals), Renaldo McKim (electric, acoustic & ambient guitars) and Mike Baxter (piano, synthesizers, Hammond C3).

It never ceases to amaze me that different progheads can listen to the same album and come up with quite different ideas on what it sounds like, but I have been following my own path for more than three decades so am not going to change how I write now. This is quite a basic neo prog album, which is okay but is never more than that, and there are large parts where I find my attention wandering and starting to check how much more there is until it ends which is never a good thing. It really feels like a band going through the motions as opposed to being dynamic and trying to create something vital and exciting. I really enjoyed the last release but there is something missing from this one, that spark of inspiration which engages both the listener and the band, and it made me think of Rick Wakeman ordering an Indian feast as he was so bored during a performance of ‘Tales From Topographic Oceans’. There are plenty of people who think this is amazing, but I am not one of them.

Kev Rowland, October 2024

Links:
https://longearthmusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/GrandTourMusic2017/