Label: InsideOut Music / Sony Music
Release date: March 1, 2024
Production: Big Big Train
Album length: 64.20 min
Genre: Progressive Rock
Rating: 10/10
Big Big Train, one of the names that comes up most whenever the talk turns to the leading lights of the modern progressive rock scene, has opened a new chapter in its colorful musical journey with its latest studio album, “The Likes of Us.” After the tragic death of vocal great David Longdon, Albeto Bravin stepped into his shoes in 2022. Bravin had previously made his name as the singer and keyboardist of Italian legends Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM).
Bravin, whom Slovenian prog rock fans got to see and hear up close, live, on July 20, 2019, when PFM played in Koper, was handed the seriously tough job of replacing the charismatic Longdon, a hugely popular figure among the band’s followers. Longdon deserves a lot of the credit for turning Big Big Train from an interesting but relatively obscure band into prog rock giants over the past fifteen years. The versatile Italian musician, who also commands a range of keyboards, has done the job with flying colors, and that’s worth saying right at the start of this review. On top of that, very few Italian singers can boast English this flawless, without even a trace of an accent. Listening to him sing, you’d never guess it isn’t his mother tongue.
Big Big Train have, after all, been marked from the very beginning by that romantic, ‘Old English’, at times pastoral melodic sensibility so typical of classic Genesis that plenty of people simply call them Genesis’s modern heirs. The band wouldn’t be too fond of that comparison, mind you, since they developed a completely distinctive songwriting style a long time ago. With Bravin, American drummer/singer Nick D’Virgilio (ex-Spock’s Beard) and Swedish multi-instrumentalist/singer Rikard Sjöblom (Beardfish, Gungfly), they’ve now fully ‘mutated’ into an international lineup. Of the long-serving core members, the only one of English origin is the last remaining founding member, bassist Greg Spawton.
Since 2023, the band’s newest member has also been Norwegian keyboardist Oskar Holdorff, formerly of art rockers Dim Gray. “The Likes of Us” also features a brass quartet that adds even more richness to Big Big Train’s traditionally lavish symphonic arrangements. Dave Foster once again played most of the guitar parts, while Clare Lindley took care of the violin arrangements. Without those two English musicians, Big Big Train could be declared a fully international band.
“The Likes of Us” is an eclectic merry-go-round from start to finish, and it includes two monumental symphonic prog epics that every prog gourmand will be licking their lips over. The first of them, “Beneath the Masts,” is a thoroughly representative Big Big Train epic with a strong English flavor. It will win over every longtime follower in an instant, because it’s where the band’s newest incarnation shows off its full songwriting and instrumental potential for the first time.
Even more intriguing is “Miramare,” crowned with epic multi-part harmonies and probably the high point of the whole album. It’s mostly the work of Trieste-born Bravin, so it’s no surprise that this compositional gem is dedicated to the famous castle on the Trieste seashore. Miramare was built by the Habsburg blue blood Maximilian, younger brother of the far better-known (here in Slovenia, at least) Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Joseph. Maximilian, the fallen Mexican emperor, was nothing but a puppet in the hands of the cunning French emperor Napoleon III, and a naive idealist to boot. After his failed adventure as a ruler, he ended up in front of a firing squad of furious Mexicans. Our own Slovene lads fought for Maximilian too, as the so-called Meksikajnarji, which remains the only case in history of Slovenes fighting and dying on the other side of the ocean for a foreign colonizer. The peak of this epic treat is the central instrumental section, especially that melodramatic moment when the Mexican-flavored trumpets kick in, instantly recalling Maximilian’s doomed colonial adventure.
After a relatively still-life intro, the opener “Light Left the Day” ‘blossoms’ into an energetic, eclectic instrumental section with lavish symphonic arrangements. “Oblivion” is both direct and complex, marked above all by an almost hypnotic multi-part chorus. D’Virigilio had a hand in it too, as backing vocalist, lyricist and co-writer. He’s another one of those superb musicians who helped Big Big Train rise to become giants of modern progressive rock.
“Skates On” is another thoroughly representative Big Big Train creation, with rich string arrangements that are slyly spiked with authentic Celtic melody. On “Love Is the Light,” you can revel mainly in Bravin’s vocal eclecticism, the stately orchestral (especially string) arrangements and the romantic, once again distinctly (Old) English atmosphere, while fans of masterful guitar solos get their fill as well.
“Bookmarks” is a romantic ballad that once more conjures up images of the Victorian era, misty marshes and grassy plains. Longtime fans of the band will find that its structure and ambience recall “Swan Hunter,” a classic from “English Electric (Part Two)” (2013). The nostalgic “Last Eleven” is the closing treat, the cherry on top of this flawless album, where ethereal harmonies, epic symphonic arrangements and romantically spiced acoustic passages once again shine in all their glory.
With “The Likes of Us,” Big Big Train have managed to create a new masterpiece of British progressive rock with an old-school stamp, one that’s a joy to listen to from the first second to the last. You can feel at every turn that the band has caught a fresh wind in its sails with Bravin and Holdorff, which won’t be much of a surprise to anyone who happened to follow the creative output of those two musicians beforehand. “The Likes of Us” is such a brilliant achievement that Longdon would surely have approved from the beyond, if only that were possible. 2024 has barely got going, yet we already have one of the main contenders for album of the year here. Given that “The Likes of Us” came out on Inside Out, the well-known label that specializes in progressive rock, a miracle might even happen and it could become the first Big Big Train album ever to turn up on the otherwise traditionally poorly stocked shelves of Slovenian shops (prog rock-wise, that is).
Author: Peter ‘Dr. ProgRock’ Podbrežnik
Track list:
1. Light Left in the Day (6:11)
2. Oblivion (5:28)
3. Beneath the Masts (17:26)
4. Skates On (4:28)
5. Miramare (10:18)
6. Love Is the Light (6:11)
7. Bookmarks (6:23)
8. Last Eleven (7:55)
Lineup:
Alberto Bravin – lead vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards, brass arrangements
Nick D’Virgilio – drums, percussion, backing vocals, 12-string acoustic guitar, vibraphone, brass arrangements
Rikard Sjöblom – guitar, organ, keyboards, backing vocals
Greg Spawton – bass guitar, bass pedals, 12-string acoustic guitar, Mellotron
Dave Foster – guitar, backing vocals
Oskar Holldorff – piano, organ, synthesizer, keyboards, backing vocals, string arrangements
Clare Lindley – violin, backing vocals, string arrangements
Guest musicians:
Dave Desmond – trombone, brass arrangements
Nick Stones – French horn
Ben Godfrey – trumpet, ‘piccolo’ trumpet
Jon Truscott – tuba
Brian Mullan – cello
