Salem Hill – Be CD

A concept album about searching for purpose, love, and recognition (as a person), Be shows Salem Hill pulling out all the stops, both lyrically and musically, to tell their story. The lyrics are smart, entertaining, and occasionally demand real thought from the listener: Is the troubling final verse of "Regard Me" really about the speaker's suicide? Or is it a metaphor for his final rejection of love and hope? It isn't clear here, and there are plenty of other moments where the listener is forced to wonder?. Wisely, Salem Hill only hints at their Christianity throughout Be, with the odd exceptions: In "The Great Stereopticon," the listener is confronted with "The spark He gave you?when will you be?", while "The Red Pool" seems to refer to the blood of Christ.

Lyrics aside, the only clear indicator that Be is a concept work is the opening-closing couplet of "Reflect" and "Regard Me". Built on the same acoustic framework and the sound of waves rolling onto a shore somewhere, "Reflect" is a somber opener, while "Regard Me," a nice bit piece of Kansas-style AOR-pomp, closes Bedepressingly with its images of hopeless surrender. In the thirteen tracks between, the music gets considerably harder edged, as Salem Hill proudly shows off their many influences. A lot of tracks means a lot of potential blab, so here's just some samples: "Symposium" sounds amazingly like Neal Morse at his best, not just because of the Transatlantean vocals of Carl Groves and Michael Dearing, but in the music itself. A guitar-powered prog-fest, "Symposium" pounds the door down with Patrick Henry's grinding bass, then dares to balance a wah-wah guitar riff against the melodic mallets of Kevin Thomas. "Nowhere Is Home" abruptly plunges headlong into classic Pink Floyd territory with its apocalyptic lyrics and Waters-y vocals layered over piano, a big B3, and loads of mellotron. "The Great Stereopticon" and "Children of The Dust" hint at Queensryche, while "So Human" packs a lot into its two minute run with its Beatlesque piano melody, Queen-style choruses, and a surprising synthesizer break in the middle. Odd track out is "The Red Pool", which recalls early Eighties Kansas, abandoning everything progressive for a straight-ahead rock groove.

Label: TDS True Dimensional Sound / Lazarus Records

Country: US

Media Condition: Near Mint (NM or M-)
Sleeve Condition: Near Mint (NM or M-)