Detailed Reviews [Tiger Moth Tales - 2020 - "Still Alive"]

Prolusion. UK composer and musician Peter JONES have recorded and released material under the moniker Tiger Moth Tales for a handful of years by now, with more than two dozen live and studio releases issued between 2014 and this year. "Still Alive" is the most recent studio album by this project, and was released through UK label White Knight Records in the late summer of 2020.

Analysis. While Peter Jones and his Tiger Moth Tales productions comes with a wee bit of variation, there are three constants you can always expect from his works: Stellar lead vocals, high quality keyboard arrangements and a liberal array of nods in the direction of classic era English progressive rock, often with a wee bit of whimsical and wacky tidbits thrown in for good measure. This is also the case with this production, described by the creator as a mini-album. I'm actually a bit unsure if this production should be regarded as a regular album or as a conceptual creation consisting of one song and six movements, as there is a distinct flow and a link between the songs at hand here. This doesn't really have anything to say about the enjoyment of this album, but for those that are fond of conceptual products this uncertainty will probably be noteworthy. That being said, this album opens and concludes with a fine, elegant pastoral creation with acoustic guitars and accordions as the driving instruments, with Jones fine, melodic voice floating on top in a distinct Peter Gabriel kind of way, but with a softer and smoother timbre. This, along with many of the vocal melodies and instrument melodies, giving this subtly Celtic-tinged affair something of a classic era Genesis touch to it. The following instrumental 'The Mighty Fallen' is a more keyboards driven affair, and musically there's perhaps a few nods in the direction of Camel but arguably a few more with more of a foundation in a jazz rock tradition, with the bass line in particular adding an emphasis to that association. Classic era neo-progressive rock having a dance with some smooth jazz rock from the same era perhaps. The following 'Golden' is a stunning piano ballad with keyboard support, a soft possibly jazz-oriented bass guitar present, rising into a majestic instrumental section and then winding down again, concluding with a nice keyboards driven instrumentals ection flavored with cosmic effects. Next up is 'Lean into Madness' which is more of an effects driven, psychedelic and twisted affair, with electronic sounds and twisted vocals as key ingredients. A nice little build up into the tour de force of 'Whistle Along', an amalgam of toy instrument like sounds and what sounds like the built in rhythms and emulated instruments from a 70's electric organ of the kind that every modern home had some 50 years ago, children's TV show sounding theme fragments, recurring Christmas music fragments and various cinematic bits and pieces, with occasional surges of layered keyboards and typical progressive rock style arranged song fragments, concluding with a piece of ancient era swing jazz and an explosion. The kind of music I would imagine could be written following a good nap in the TV chair after a bit too much cognac, then waking up to take a very needed pee and at the same time trying to make music of the recollections of the dream you had when you awoke. Weird, wacky and whimsical, but with some dark undertones and a strong sense of cohesion, like a psychedelic tinged dream with a few looks into the realm of nightmares along the way. That the album then concludes with a revisit to the calmer waters of the title track is both fitting and appropriate, with it's back to real life and reality grounded and positive feel and atmosphere. The CD edition of this album comes with a bonus CD featuring a live performance at the intimate venue / studio The Quiet Room, which showcase the qualities of the live band version of Tiger Moth Tales very nice indeed, using a few cameras to zoom in on the individual performers and otherwise a performance noteworthy for an excellent sound quality. I believe some of the songs may be a bit stripped down compared to their original studio versions too, which should make this live performance of interest to existing fans of Tiger Moth Tales too. In addition to this concert footage we are also treated to the promo video for the title track of this album, plus a standalone recording of the song 'Hygge' from the aforementioned The Quiet Room featuring only main man Peter Jones singing and playing on a grand piano. A high quality bonus DVD in other words, and for quite a few I suspect this bonus item alone will be regarded as money well spent.

Conclusion. Tiger Moth tales have established itself in a relative short amount of time as a quality provider of progressive rock. With the majority of the music featuring nods in the direction of 70's Genesis and Camel as well as early 80's neo progressive rock, and with high quality and strongly appealing lead vocals and equally well made keyboard performances and arrangements as calling cars, this is a project and an that is easy to like and easy to recommend. That this production also features a couple of what one might describe as oddball items doesn't detract from that, especially when they are as well made as they are in this case.

Progmessor: November 2020
The Rating Room