Short Reviews [Exhibit A - 2024 - "The Random & the Purpose"]

Although this was written in 2015 it was only released in 2024, and contains just five tracks. For the most part it is the same line-up as the 2020 album apart from the first song, "Light A New Fire", which has Neil's cousin Paul Foss on drums. These five tracks were played live but not previously recorded and the sound quality is not quite as good as MMAL, but this is still a wonderful release. Back in the day when I was living in the UK I always felt I had a finger on the pulse, but now I am the other side of the world I confess I have no idea what is going on in the scene unless someone contacts me, but I do find it difficult to understand why Exhibit A are not more well known. Their highly commercial take on prog rock straddles Neo and AOR, but to these poor abused ears it is a load of fun. Dave still has a nice voice, Neil often provides layers of backgrounds when Nick crunches the lead, the two Paul's fill in the space on the drums while Steve provides run and melodies all his own which takes the music in a different direction again. There is an argument from some prog snobs that Neo is not real prog, and bands should not bother with it, but some of our largest underground prog bands at least started in the genre and there are plenty still proving it is a valid style of music, and that is again the case here. I don't know why it took 9 years for this to be made available (all four Exhibit A albums are on Spotify btw), and why it is only five tracks with a total run time of just over 30 minutes, but I do know I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it. There is a professional naivety to it which is endearing, It Bites mixing with Pallas and early Genesis with even some IQ bits and pieces, which makes this a really enjoyable release. This is not prog which runs a risk of disappearing up its own orifices as it takes itself too seriously with loads of "look at me" egos on stage, but instead is a melodic Neo album which is fun from beginning to end, and surely music is supposed to be enjoyed and not just endured? I have no idea if this is the end of the story from Exhibit A, but I certainly hope not as here is a band many progheads would enjoy if they went out and looked for them.