Originally published:
https://therocker65.wordpress.com/2016/06/02/reviews-roundup-buckshot-amber-vs-mgm-vs-ben-craven-vs-miss-rabbit-vs-the-lunar-effect/
BEN CRAVEN
Last Chance To Hear
Desert Comb Music
Australia now for some seventies(!) tinged melodic prog rock. The kind of thing that Dave Gilmour siding Pink Floyd fans will take to. And in case that isn’t enough for you, it comes with some added Star Trek!
Still not convinced? Well, Billy Sherwood from Yes pops in as well to help record William Shatner as he adds some of his essential vocal stylings to ‘Spy in the Sky, Part 3’. Apparently “Last Chance To Hear” is loosely inspired by the end of the music industry as we know it. Or so says Mr Craven, a man inspired by Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield, Yes and King Crimson, as well as classically inspired cinematic sounds.
This is his third album, and it’s a cracker. There is some fabulous guitar work on numbers like ‘Spy in the Sky, Part 1’ and ‘Critical Mass, Part 1’, and the cinematic influences come to the fore on ‘Revenge of Dr Komodo’. An external producer might have buffed it up a bit, but as modern prog goes, this is good, good stuff. If you hunt down a CD, then you’ll find it’s also splendidly packaged, with a bonus DVD featuring Mr Craven behind the scenes of the album, along with some music videos.