London Underground "Honey Drops" 2010 Italy Psych Space Rock
Line-up / Musicians
-Gianluca Gerlini / Hammond C3, piano, wurlitzer, fender rhodes, mellotron
-Alessandro Gimignani /drums
-Fabio Baini /bass
guests
-Stefano Negri /sax
-Riccardo Cavalieri /acoustic and electric guitars,violas
-Sergio Taglioni /moog,mellotron and synful orchestra
After very good "Through A Glass Darkly" and 7 years break, London Underground strikes back with new (3rd) album and re-formed line-up. The only original member which left in the band is organist Gianluca Gerlini, who joined forces with Alessandro Gimignani (drums) & Fabio Baini (bass). As much as I liked previous rhythm section of Stefano Gabbani (also vocals) & Daniele Caputo (both from very impressive formation called Standarte), I still have to say that I love new sound of London Underground: instrumental only psychy/jazzy/proggy organ-driven power trio. "Honey Drops" is a really entertaining release filled with highly energetic new versions of some well known & totally obscure rock classics from 60' and 70' + few original compositions of the band. It's also worth noticing that despite being Hammond-drenched prog trio, London Underground doesn't sound like ELP or Triumvirat at all. They music is much more rooted in 60' & early 70' psychedelic rock, jazz, blues, rhythm&blues and early progressive rock.
"St. Helens" - this one seems to be the second track originally composed by London Underground but unfortunately it's definitely the weakest one here. It's too much dominated by Sergio Taglioni's electronic sounds created on Moog synthesizer. In the end we have some more audible organ chops but it doesn't change a thing that "St. Helens" is a poor experimental track which doesn't suit the rest of the album. Uneven & rather tiresome four minutes.......by ozzy tom
