Originally published:
https://www.proggnosis.com/Release/50418#Reviews
Reviewed by Marc on 25 Apr 2018
Like the title says it, The Single Edits consists of edited versions of older tracks by Ben Craven. He is a solo artist, playing all instruments (and lead vocals) on just about every songs .
The Single Edits offers us 11 tracks of mostly song based symphonic prog pop, but there are also a few instrumentals that fit very well with the songs and add diversity. Craven’s music goes from melodic to hard rock and the songs all fit in the 2 to 5 minutes range.
To give an idea of what to expect, I would firstly pick Steve Hackett’s poppier material from the 90’s on. Craven’s singing voice is also not so far from Hackett’s, and he does often spice up his songs with very nice guitar solos. The two ”bookend” instrumentals (Critical Mass Part 2” and ”Revenge of Dr Komodo”) remind me of some of what The Flower Kings used to give us in the 90’s, partly because of the strong presence of keyboards.
The Single Edits by Ben Craven is a very entertaining pop/prog album that is sure to please fans of the acts I’ve mentioned in this review, but also many fans of intelligent well crafted hard rock music in general.
Recommended!