Author: Aleš Podbrežnik
Artist: Lanzon, Phil
Label: 57 Records
Release: 2017
Running time: 54:16
Rating: 4/5
Phil Lanzon has been playing keyboards for English art rock legends Uriah Heep for a full 33 years now. Where all and with whom Phil Lanzon has played carries the biblical weight of the whole galactic music family tree. Yet the right moment to record and release a solo studio album of his own never quite presented itself. After Uriah Heep put out their latest (and still current) studio album »Outsider« in 2014, and then spent a good while keeping fans around the world happy with countless gigs, the time had finally come for Phil to get cracking on all the ideas that had been piling up relentlessly in his private music archive.
The album »If You Think I’m Crazy« deserves your full attention. This isn’t an album that’s some distant stylistic echo of all the bands Phil has played with over the years (Uriah Heep included). It’s a hugely colorful, varied set of ten carefully composed tracks, seasoned with subtle, refined arrangements, which give the record a remarkable dynamic arc. Lanzon summoned a handful of top-notch players into the studio, and they poured their talents wholeheartedly into the very core of the songs. Just name three of them: John Mitchell, Craig Blundell, both Cottle brothers, and it quickly becomes clear that Lanzon wanted to deliver the very best he knows and can do on his studio debut. In other words, pure perfectionism.
The album »If You Think I’m Crazy!« is (in the »simplest« terms) an art rock record. You’ll find everything on it. From tighter, hard rock-leaning moments to flirtations with gospel, world music, even pastoral elements (I Saw Two Englands), plus country and blues, as well as everything music connoisseurs naturally expect from Phil. That means progressive rock elements, the old-school, pioneering kind. If you’re hunting for any parallels with the current Uriah Heep, the closing mini-epic symphonic treat Forest could actually draw a few lines to the »Wake the Sleeper« era of the band, and Lanzon’s occasional use of the Hammond B3 organ especially stirs up Heep associations. The album looks at the world mostly with optimism, so the expected dose of typically British melancholy, the kind you’d normally find on records like this, takes a back seat this time. Lanzon also does a very decent job as lead vocalist. But he’s not the only one singing on the album. The opening track Mind Over Matter hints that this record is a story all its own, with that uniqueness breathed into it by the vocals of Arena and It Bites singer and guitarist Jon Mitchell. It’s a symphonic, epic art rock stunner that surprises hugely as it unfolds: it starts out melancholic in the verse, then ignites into a mighty, pompous chorus where vocal choirs join in richly. Mitchell remains a vocal oddity, with a tone that fits neo-prog and alternative rock alike, which is his big trademark. Mostly, though, Mitchell’s biggest contribution to this album is his magical guitar playing, and with his subtle, filigree sonic brilliance he’s one of the most in-demand session musicians in the British Isles. The late John Wetton knew this very well too, since Mitchell worked constantly on his solo studio efforts, as well as on the Icon project.
»If You Think I’m Crazy!« is an album you won’t conquer in a single listen. It’s extremely lively and packed with a pile of little details Lanzon obsessed over while building the arrangements. There’s plenty of finesse, and the sound is richly woven from many instrumental palettes. The album also shows off Lanzon’s neoclassical side, with bombastic orchestral arrangements and a hunger for symphonic scope. Lanzon has pulled off the mixing of different music genres with great success here. At the same time, this fine musician delivers a colorful range of keyboard sounds, which adds even more to the record’s variety. Every time you spin it again in the CD player, Lanzon’s perfectionism and his layered musical polish will pull you back in and keep you gratefully busy. This was an album you’d expect to be very solid, but Phil blew past those expectations and delivered a truly high-quality record, one you can’t fault for a single artistic slip. Still, take all this praise with a grain of salt. Lanzon is very cautious at the outset. He stays within the tried-and-tested arsenal of his own arranging, where he feels comfortable and at home and has full command, so the album doesn’t contain a shred of experimentation or random avant-garde clowning« or eclectic »jabs«.
Line-up
Phil Lanzon – Hammond B3, piano, Rhodes, Wurlizer, Geoshred, vocals on tracks 4 and 10.
GUEST MUSICIANS
Richard Cottle – arrangements, orchestrations, keyboards
Craig Blundell – drums
Laurence Cottle – bass guitar
John Mitchell – guitar, vocals on tracks 1 and 3
James Graydon – acoustic guitar
Sarah Joy – pedal steel, banjo
Joe Atkins – “piccolo” trumpet
Andy Makin – vocals on tracks 2, 6, 7 and 9
Andy Caine – vocals on track 8
Production
Simon Hanhart
Track List
1. Mind Over Matter
2. Kelly Gang
3. I Knew I Was Dreaming
4. I Saw Two Englands
5. Step Overture (instrumental)
6. Lover’s Highway
7. Donna & Joe
8. Carolin
9. The Bells
10. Forest
