Peculiar, very peculiar! The instrumentals are great, and show a great
deal of talent and inventiveness. The songs themselves are like nothing
else I've heard; certainly not mainstream in any sense of the word. The
nearest parallel I can think of is the album material that Cockney Rebel
used to produce in the 70s - except that the music on Rock Life is far
smoother in places (and far more hectic in others).
The first track Sound on Sound is a bit too 'clever' for my tastes,
but is followed by some really great musical accompaniment for Up to
You (very smooth, very mellow synthstrings). Then Demon in Me
is different again. And so it continues.
Many of the tracks have complex vocal or instrumental lines, and this can
be fairly off-putting (our first reviewer gave up!). However, Track 7 (Love
seems so Strange) is far simpler and has real potential (but stops very
suddenly). It features a really delightful arrangement,
and is the sort of track I could listen to several times over. The vocal
tune for Track 8 (Train whistle blow) is also quite enchanting,
though the accompaniment is occasionally odd, and it also stops really suddenly.
As a result, this is a really hard CD to describe, and even harder to assess.
I don't think there's any doubt that Lol would make a valuable instrumental
addition to many a local band, and the moderating influence that comes from having to
compromise with fellow band members could only be beneficial; this musician
clearly knows how to write unusual tracks, and knows how to play adventurous
keyboards. However, some of the chords are really odd, and take some
getting used to! It'd be really interesting to see what Lol produces as part of a
combined effort.