Rocking Horse Music Club: The Last Pink Glow

This album has a longer official title than listed above. Technically, it’s The Last Pink Glow: An Interpretation of Jack Kerouac’s The Haunted Life, an unfinished novella by the author. Having not read any Kerouac other than On the Road and some of his poetry, I didn’t know quite what I was getting myself into. To be honest, after repeated listens, I still don’t.

The New Hampshire-based band often features guest members, but for this album, the cast is Justin Cohn on vocals, Brian Coombes on keyboards and vocals, Brendan Harisiades on bass, Myron Kibbee and Mike McAdam on guitars, Andrew Rotunno on guitars and vocals, and Eric Wagley on drums. Joining them is Tony Banks on the third track, "The Haunted Life". It is a very lyric- and vocal-dense album, as one might expect given the topic. Normally, that doesn’t do it for me. But after many shots, I’ve come around, especially because the music is so catchy. It’s definitely prog, often symphonic and very occasionally heavy, but in general it has a bouncy feel, sort of ironic given what I understand about the novella on which it is based. In fact, one might be forgiven for thinking that “The Ballad of Joe Martin� was a recent 10,000 Maniacs tune, albeit with a male singer.

I actually wasn’t taken with the track featuring Banks, despite Banks being one of my favorite keyboardists. But the rest of the album impressed, especially the closing, epic title track, which contains all the best elements found in the previous tunes.

This won’t be a favorite of prog purists. At least not right off the bat. It wasn’t for me, either. But I recommend it. In fact, enough for me to go through their back catalog. I’m especially looking forward to their 2019 effort, interpreting Anthony Phillps’ early work.

Track Listing
1. Haunted (6:10)
2. It’s The Small Things (3:52)
3. The Haunted Life (4:40)
4. If We’re Silent & We Listen (5:50)
5. The Ballad of Joe Martin (3:37)
6. Changing Channels (4:13)
7. The Ballad of Wesley Martin (5:24)
8. Splitting Atoms (7:40)
9. Restless Wanderers (2:40)
10. Big City Small Town Blues (4:40)
11. The Last Pink Glow (12:49)

Added: December 10th 2025
Reviewer: Aaron Steelman
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 88
Language: english

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