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Customer Reviews: Average Rating:  Rating :  - In Search Of Another's Identity
"Culture of Ascent" is Glass Hammer's 10th album, which was released October 23rd, 2007. On this album, Glass Hammer appears to be a band which isn't struggling to find their own identity, but one which is struggling to take on the identity of another band; specifically they appear to want to be Yes. It is more than their choice to cover "South Side of the Sky", or to have guest vocalist Jon Anderson provide some backing vocal work. It is even more than having Roger Dean design their logo. On many of their pieces there appears to be an attempt to recapture the Yes sound from the 70s. Not that Yes from the 70s isn't great music, but this is supposed to be progressive music, not regressive.
The album opens with the aforementioned "South Side of the Sky" which is a decent cover, but doesn't offer anything new or unique to the piece. Susie Bogdanowicz vocals are pleasant, but I don't find her voice strong enough, though it is good to hear Jon Anderson adding some vocalizations to the overall work. The next piece is "Sun Song" which starts out with a different sound, but takes on Yes overtones late in the piece. The lyrics are rather weak, and it is rather unexceptional. "Life by Light" is the most similar to a Yes song other than the cover, partially due to Jon Anderson adding some vocal work here as well. Once again though, the result is so-so. "Ember Without Name" is my favorite piece from the album. It does suffer from some up and down moments, but overall there is a lot more upside than down. "Into Thin Air" is the longest piece on the album, but never caught my ear as far as offering anything special. "Rest" also suffers from never really going anywhere, which is too bad considering there is some nice string work.
Overall, I found the compositions and the lyrics to be fairly weak. There are some nice moments in each piece, but they do not sustain it throughout the entire work. "South Side of the Sky" is not surprisingly the strongest work, but as far as the original pieces go I can easily place "Ember Without Name" as the one which shows the most potential. I do like the use of strings on the album, and The Adonia String Trio is a definite plus for the album. I found the vocals to be uninteresting for the most part, and an area where they need to improve, either through bringing in another lead singer or through the development of their vocalists. The best part of the album is the instrumentation and the solos, as it is then when the group really shines and it becomes clear why this group has a significant fan base.
The group consists of Steve Babb (bass guitar, pipe organ, Taurus pedals, the Free Note, associated percussion, mellotron, piano, harp, loops and programming, mini-Moog, backing vocals), Fred Schendel (Nord electro 2, Nord lead 2, piano, Bela D media D-synth, organs, electric piano, mellotron, additional synths, loops and rogramming, acoustic guitar, string arrangements, backing vocals), David Wallmann (guitars), Carl Groves (lead and backing vocals), Matt Mendians (drums), Susie Bogdanowicz (lead and backing vocals). There is also The Adonia String Trio which consists of Rebecca James (violin), Susan Whitacre (viola), and Rachel Beckham (cello). There are several guests as well including Jon Anderson (vocalizations on "South Side of the Sky" and "Life by Light"), Eric Parker (acoustic guitar on "Life by Light"), Robert Streets (backing vocals and `Eden' solo on "Into Thin Air"), Sarah Snyder (backing vocals on "Into Thin Air"), and Haley McGuire (backing vocals on "Sun Song" and "Into Thin Air").
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