Search - John Wesley :: Under the Red & White Sky/Closing...

One word: Brilliant!

jdessaules2 | Phoenix, AZ | 04/12/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I first heard John Wesley several years ago when he opened for Marillion, but couldn't . "Thirteen days" is both haunting and beautiful--I would buy the album just for this song (seriously--its that good). "Last Light" and "Rome is Burning" are also fantastic: His mastery of language in his lyrics rivals that of Fish!"

John Wesley - An Underated Artsit's First Two Albums

Steven Sly | Kalamazoo, MI United States | 06/28/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"UNDER THE RED AND WHITE SKY



Wesley is probably best known his guitar and vocal work as a touring member of Porcupine Tree and prior to that his work with Fish and Marillion. Wesley's own albums steer away from progressive rock and more towards singer / songwriter stuff. This is not a bad thing as Wesley is really good at this type of music, and discovering his music has been a pleasant surprise for me. Wesley has a definite flair for gut wrenching lyrics, is a good guitar player, and has a very nice voice. The songs are all acoustic based, but playing with a full band here the songs are fleshed out nicely with help from all of the members of Marillion along with other guests like Sean Malone from Gordian's Knott. I think this one is probably his best album so far with highlights including "Into The Night", "Thirteen Days", "What You Really Want", "Cutting The Tree" and "Sliver". Really, I like every track on the disc, and this album is well worth checking out.



THE CLOSING OF THE PALE BLUE EYES



Wesley's 2nd album is an all acoustic affair that basically chronicles the break up of one of his relationships. He basically pours his heart into these tracks all dealing with a woman who apparently left him. Of the 3 albums I own from Wes, this is my least favorite. It almost comes across as a bit whiny in spots. It is obvious that he was devastated by this breakup, but every song on the disc sounds like a letter to his ex mate and after 5 or 6 songs about the same subject it gets a bit tedious. Other than that it is a decent effort and there are some great individual songs on it. This album mostly features John and his acoustic guitar with rather sparse accompniment from other musicians. It is the least diverse of his albums and although good, probably his weakest.

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