Rating: 8/10
Label: ProgRockRecords 2011
Review by: Urban "Wally" Wallstrom
Old school, definitely old school... and remarkably out of touch with today's music scene and industry. Quirky, innocent, close to naive at times? yet strangely intriguing and charming. I constantly find myself with a grin on my face as I play the latest offering to the Gods of... what exactly??? Indeed, it's Zen Rock and Roll and also the work of multi-instrumentalist Jonathan Saunders. The man's responsible for all instruments and vocals and Undone is actually a darn nice mix of 70s Pomp, Symphonic, Art-Rock with just a hint of the complex Prog.
In truth, the grand concept of lushy keyboards and soft-soft melodic songs seems best in theory than execution. Honestly, the whole concept is so utterly dated, wimpy, it could make any ordinary rocker blush of sympathy towards the poor bugger. I wasn't around the first time this kind of music had its peak in the seventies. However, it's like if Saunders decided to bring together all the nerdy acts of the past and declare them Gods of rock and roll. The mind boggles. It's the pomp of STYX (Dennis DeYoung), the over the top agenda of SPARKS, the lively arrangements of JOHN MILES, the innocence of AMBROSIA, the vocal harmonies of ELO, and why not the odd melody of ZON and YES. I probably shouldn't? but I do enjoy most of the seven tracks on display and there's hardly anything wrong with looking out through rose colored stained windows every now and then???
www.zenrockandroll.com/
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