For all the poorly-produced, unoriginal hackneyed junk
there is floating around in this world (or so I'm
told), I'm glad I encounter so few of them. Case in
point: 4Front, a talented, relentlessly energetic and
somewhat innovative little trio out of New Jersey.
Comprised of Joe Bergamini (drums), Frank LaPlaca
(bass) and Zak Rizvi (guitars, keyboards), these guys
often come heartbreakingly close to brilliance.
The compositions (most of them penned by Rizvi) are
focused and, for the most part, a strong indication
that he's an ace composer who, within the span of two
or three albums, garner some serious attention from
either the fusion or progressive (or both) scene. For
all the fire that his compositions have, one of his
more genius-like moments was covering Bowie's "Space
Oddity," tossing in a bit of Peter Shilling's "Major
Tom" and a dash of something I won't tell you about
here.
Although the guitar production, in places, gets a
little pastel, a little thin, the compositions shine
through. If there's anything else to criticize, it's
that the disc feels a little long toward the end
(mostly because discs are getting shorter, by and
large, these days) but that's hardly something that
should stop you from making Radio Waves Goodbye one of your own. (Just break it up into two sittings.)
Great playing (everywhere) and great melodies
(especially the lovely "Burial At Sea").
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