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Alaska - Alaska  
(LifeScape Records LSAL077CD)  
    

This very keyboard dominated album sounds much like Yes from the late '70's and a bit from A,B,W&H. The best similarity can be found in the vocals from singer Al Lewis. He is a real Anderson clone and even tries to sing in the same intonation. The keys from John O'Hara, however are a mixture between Wakeman and Emerson. The last influence does give some of the tracks a sparkling character. There is a good balance between the more progressive songs and the calm and easy ballad-like short ones. The opener 'IceSpirits' shows us directly what we can expect from this american duo. A refreshing song in the vein of Yes. 'Two shades of grey' is a beautiful song that could have been a solo track from Jon Anderson. Lewis' voice is at his best and sounds the most like the master himself. 'Anyman's tomorrow' begins like a hymn and exposes thus an atmosphere that is more in the line of ELP. After the acoustic guitar break starts a real sing-a-long yes-based song to end in a more pompous ELP/Yes mixture. The dark instrumental 'Bardanes' and the following 'Reason to wonder' have a Waters/Pink Floyd feeling in the musical parts. The songs 'Tiananmen Square' and 'WellsBridge' are just real good prog songs again. The only disadvantage that this band has is that it sounds too Yes-like and doesn't keeps your attention through the whole album. Maybe it's too much of the same. This has to be seen as positive critics, because when these guys make progress we will hear much more from them. 

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