Album Notes

KITSILANO - an exclusive and picturesque area in the northern part of Vancouver`s west side situated right on the beach and very close to the downtown area- and also the name that JOHN BLIGHT has decided to record under for his latest album.
ALTERED STATES - a 12 song set with songs recorded between 2002 and 2009 and featuring several out-takes from the 2004 album NORTH SOUTH by Charlie Angel. Like that album it features simple catchy melodies interwoven into a musical backdrop of banks of harmonies, pedal steel guitars, mandolins and banjo`s but this time with more musical variety, subtlety and other contemporary musical influences.
First off, the radio friendly STREETS OF L.A. finally sees the light of day, a pot boiler of a song, one of the strongest on the album and one which has actually been around in various versions since 2002 . The Eagles meet The Beach Boys with shades of Robbie Williams` "Me and my Monkey`s" tijuana brass section on the last verse.
Mandolin laden TAKE ME BACK and the unusually constructed CANADA featuring several different time signatures are passionate melodic tributes to the beauty and vibrance of Kits and Vancouver whilst the album`s only ballad GOLDEN LADY features symphonic piano, strings and a gorgeous pedal steel riff behind a low key vocal.
The rather haunting and hypnotic IT`S YOU has the rich voice of Les Roberts high up in the mix and a drum track akin to The Beatles` "I Should Have Known Better". A nice, moody, evocative track.
By contrast, the upbeat piano and organ driven PRISONERS OF OUR AGE is a surprising choice for this album as it has a very non-country sound and is certainly inspired by Nick Lowe`s "Without Love". Similarly the acoustic guitar based sing-along-a-chorus song SLIPPED WAY is reminiscent of Poco`s superb "Crazy Love".
COMFORT ZONE as presented here is close to the original version as John recorded it in 2006 and differs greatly from the recent out-and-out traditional country take as recorded by Musical Records in Eire which has been circulating round the publishing houses of Nashville of late.
USER FRIENDLY displays John`s Beatles influences in it`s melodic and harmony structure and features a stunning guitar solo by Stuart Hastings and close harmony work by Les.
The album closes with three very different tunes. John updates The Hollies almost unknown but classic track ANOTHER NIGHT into a very contemporary sounding version and this is a perhaps not so surprising inclusion when you realise the influence that that band has had on John`s own music. This is followed by a poignant piano piece LUCID STATE composed and performed by main keyboardist Gordon Milton and then finally the closing track THE LIGHT THAT SHINES - a somewhat philosophical piece featuring a tongue in cheek, rather surprising spoken outro by two unusual guests !

This is an album that`s very easy listening on the ear, full of good tunes and in a similar vein to the previous North South and Gaining Immortality albums. Recommended.

Paul Crompton. North Wales Weekly News. (Reproduced by kind permission of)