Cos is a one man affair. All songs are written, produced, arranged, engineered, and performed by Mr Mark Costoso; with the exception of the lyrics which are penned by various authors. According to his bio, Mr Costoso has studied classical music theory and tutored under a legendary jazz musician. What has Mr Costoso done with all this this knowledge of music ? What any aspiring musician would do-- created an AOR album.
The Turning Around has certain progressive moments, most notably track #3 "Nolita", but on the whole it's not what I would consider a progressive rock album. Lyrically, it's much closer to "Lite Rock" FM radio , with insipid lyrics about love and life. Musically, it does have some interesting musical forays, but they're too few and too far between to really capture the imagination and hold it for an entire disc. The weakest part of the disc is the vocal performance. Yes, yet another singer-songwriter convinced that he must sing his songs when he clearly does not have the power nor range to effectively convey any sort of warmth or drama to the tracks.
This disc may find an audience somewhere out there , but I cannot see it making any kind of splash in the progressive rock community (except when tossed in a lake by a disappointed progger ). Some of the musical ideas on this disc are interesting but I think Mr Costoso must either overhaul most of the singing and lyrics or peddle this disc to a much more middle-of-the-road crowd.
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