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Strange Weather Album Review
The Dutch Progressive Rock Page - Feb. 2001
Colin Wilson (in no way related to either Damian or Steve Wilson) is the bass player of one of the best tribute bands around, the Australian Pink Floyd Show. Colin is the first person of this band to release a solo-album. On the album Colin wrote, arranged, produced and sang all songs, and played acoustic and electric guitars, bass and stylophone.He is accompanied by Paul Burgess (10CC, Chris Farlowe, Joan Armatrading) on drums and percussion, Nigel Stonier on keyboards and some acoustic guitar and someone (or thing) with the mysterious name of Dr. Rhythm, who drums on the track N x NW. Strangely enough, none of his Aussie Floyd buddies can be found on the album. Maybe Colin didn't want to mix work and pleasure, but it would have been interesting to see what it would have sounded like with a few guest appearances by the other band members.
Now usually when people who play in prog bands release a solo album, the album contains music that they normally don't play when they are with their band. Recent examples are Steve Rothery's Wishing Tree project, the classical outings on Martin Orford's solo album, or even the first half of Neal Morse's solo album. So it comes as no surprise that someone, who has a day job of impersonating Roger Waters, comes with an album that sounds in no way like any Floyd album and -most important- doesn't seem to have the desire to do so either. These are eleven well-written songs encompassing nearly every possible subgenre under the rock denominator. As Colin himself states: "I've always enjoyed albums that don't sound the same from start to finish, and when I got the chance to record Strange Weather, I decided to put 11 very different songs together. The finished result, I think, is varied enough to hold the interest of the listener all the way through, no matter what your taste in music".
And different styles, that's exactly what you get. For example the opener Big Bad Wolf is a bit of a straightforward bluesrocker, which, fortunately, does not set the tone for the rest of the album. On the other end of the spectrum there's Hellos and Glad Goodbyes which is a genuine Bluegrass ballad - a great fun track - while Diggin' it up is a heavy rocker again, but with a surprisingly mellow (and proggy) guitar part in the middle. Heavy rockers and more mellow ballads alternate on the album. N x NW for example, inspired by Hitchcock's North by North-West, this song has a powerful rhythm and a guitar sound, which wouldn't be out of place on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. Or Adelaide, of which the roaring guitars sound like a merge between Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Clash, and The Troggs (Wild Thing). Another great fun song, and purely coincidentally also the city where I am writing this review! :-) These two heavy tracks are alternated by the very ambient Decisions, which features some delightful (fretless?) bass and a very psychedelic atmosphere (the closest it ever gets to Pink Floyd) and the very personal The Lucky Ones. Every Other Day has a very Beatlesque feel, which becomes clear from the start, when Colin sings "Here comes the sun", which indeed sounds a lot like a certain Beatles track. However, the rest of the song does have its own identity and sounds more like a Paul McCartney solo track. Another familiar sounding track is Procrastination Song, which has such a naggingly familiar melody that you can hum along instantly. It has a slight resemblance to Pink Floyd's "If" and it is this track where Colin's Roger Waters alter ego comes along to sing the last verse. The resemblance is so striking that you'd wonder whether this isn't the real Waters doing some guest-vocals - incredible. And last, but not least, the sweet ballad When I Smile. This is a track that features acoustic guitar, accompanied by a drum computer and sounds quite like some of the ballads Porcupine Tree has produced on their latest albums. (in fact, you could almost sing the lyrics of "The Rest Will Flow" to it). This song is one of my personal favourites on the album. Colin's pleasant voice really carries this song, while a faint Floydian slide-guitar completes the atmosphere.
Strange Weather has grown to become one of my favourite albums of the past year, because of its diversity and also its accessibility. Most tracks are light-hearted and easy to listen to, yet they're interesting enough to listen to them again and again. Colin's voice is very pleasant to hear and his style of singing changes with the styles of the various songs. His playing is solid and the production is crystal clear. Also a note has to be made of Paul Burgess' solid drumming, especially on tracks like Adelaide, Diggin' it up, or Big Bad Wolf. And while it may not be prog rock in the strictest sense of the word, it will definitely appeal to many fans of the genre, or fans of good rock music in general. And if you really start looking for them, the Pink Floyd references can be plentiful. But most of all, the album is not as over-pretentious as many new bands in the genre seem to be, but an in general highly enjoyable album, madeby someone who seems to know clearly what he's doing.
Conclusion: 8 out of 10.
Bart Jan van der Vorst
Reprinted by kind permission of The Dutch Progressive Rock Page © 2001
Strange Weather Album Review
The Folkestone Herald 'Music' - 14 Dec 2000
Colin Wilson, vocalist and bassist of The Australian Pink Floyd who played at the Leas Cliff Hall on tuesday, has released his debut solo album, Strange Weather.
First track Big Bad Wolf is a real go-getter, a fast rocky-style number with lyric references to 'the big bad wolf' and 'who's gonna blow down our house of straw'. This is combined with slower tracks including When I Smile, which is cool and calm enough to send you off to sleep, like a lullaby.
Colin has the ability to sing softly, particularly in 9:13 AM, a song about a baby who brings joy to it's family, or stronger and faster in tracks like Adelaide and Big Bad Wolf - but always with a story to tell. What with Adelaide being 'young and unaware' with little experience of life and Roger Thornhill's life being a mess because 'he's been mistaken for somebody else', you find yourself getting wrapped up in these peoples lives.
I would advise anyone to have a listen to this album - it's not too heavy, not too full of guitar riffs and not too lacking in anything. Colin seems to have just the right combination of tracks to suit a variety of people.
Emma Longman
Reprinted by kind permission of The Folkestone Herald © 2000.
Strange Weather Album Review
The Anglia Advertiser - October 2000
Strange Weather is the debut album from Australian Pink Floyd guitarist and singer Colin Wilson. The album is as far away from Floyd in style as you can get. However this does not mean that it is not any good. Far from it, Strange Weather has an instant appeal that Floyd songs never had and is more assessable to the audience on its first listen. It features 11 guitar based songs and has no lingering 15 minute epics like Floyd. It is just 11 well constructed and well produced songs.
The style of song writing and singing varies throughout the album. Hellos
and Glad Goodbyes has the sound of a Paul Simon song whilst some of the
tracks sound as if they could have been written by Lou Reed in his 'Transformer' days.
On the whole Strange Weather is a collection of ambient Rock songs that
prove that Colin Wilson is a songwriter in his own right and not just someone who does excellent Pink Floyd covers.
Shaun Terriss
Reprinted by kind permission of the Anglia Advertiser © 2000.
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