Album of the Day

Always Almost, by Still (1997): Back in the mid 1990s, when echolyn broke up (right after I discovered them, naturally), the band basically split in two. Keyboardist Chris Buzby started finneus guage, which took the complex echolyn style and moved it into a Bruford/UK-influenced direction. Guitarist Brett Kull, drummer Paul Ramsey, and vocalist/bassist Ray Weston formed Still. Although Still's only release (their next release, God Pounds His Nails, was released under the "Always Almost" name - go figure) was billed by some as "just like echolyn!", it's quite different. It's rockier, rougher, and more straight ahead than echolyn was. To say I was disappointed at the time was an understatement. More than a decade on, I can enjoy it more for what it is (and hear some of where the current echolyn sound began), but it's still not a favorite in the cannon of the echolyn universe (I prefer God . . ., actually).