Album of the Day

Looking Homeward, by Tristan Park (1998): Prog often times gets slammed for being "pretentious," which I think is code for "serious." Not a lot of feel good party prog out there extolling the rock n' roll virtues of sex, drugs, and - well - rock n' roll. I think that's only a valid criticism if the lyrical subject isn't worth the effort. This album is full of fairly somber lyrical ideas in songs like "An American Tragedy" (parts 1 and 2), "Memorial Day," and "Four Freedoms." But you'd think that the band would lighten up on the subject of baseball! "The Cruelest Month" is a deadly serious and earnest tune about the misery of being Red Sox fan (presumably dropped from the set after last season). What could have been good for a laugh or light-hearted sentimental moment is played very heavy. The result is possibly the funniest non-funny song in my collection. Not that the rest of the album is that great, but it can't touch the heights / depths of that tune.