A Promise Of Peace
is a concept album about World War II. Normally we do not review
CD's which are not directly related to Pink Floyd or
Roger Waters. But this album is definitely an exception
in that it is so similar to Waters own ideals
and style. At first listening A Promise of Peace
sounded quite interesting. The lush layering of synthesizers and
keyboards and the acoustic or rock style guitar, mixed with the
very Watersesque sounding songs and sound effects were quite good.
But I didn't like the vocals.
But then, upon the second listening, I realised
how very Floyd and Waters like
much of the album is done. As I listened even more intently, I
became enraptured by the words as well as the music.
The length of the album is quite long, at 77
minutes you definitely get your money's worth. The front and back
cover is adorned by the British union jack (flag), and attached
to the outside is a red plastic poppy. Inside are the full lyrics
and credits. Lee Saunders plays all synthesizers
and keyboards as well as writing all the songs and lyrics.
The song listing is as follows:
1. Prelude. 2. For a Thousand Years.
3. The world Prepares. 4. Soldier On Tom. 5. Not Just a Phoney
War. 6. Face the War Alone. 7. Is This the Shape? Part 1. 8.
Alone In the Dark. 9. This Is the Shape. Part II. 10. Reap the
Whirlwind. 11. Overlord. 12. The Killing Grounds of Falaise.
13. For all Our Tomorrow's. 14. Poor Buggers Part 1. 15. Poor
Buggers Part II. 16. Tomorrow's Going To Be a Lovely Day.
Though lyrically the writing style is different,
the similarities to the song writing style of Roger Waters
is striking. The sound effects are superb. And, like both
Roger and Pink Floyd, a female vocalist
is used at times to compliment the vocals as well as a saxophone.
What is really strange is that despite the similarity and resemblance
in writing style and content to Rogers work,
Mr.Saunders only recently began listening to
Pink Floyd and Roger Waters, and didn't
even know about the political undertones in Roger's
writing. The parallelism of similar philosophies as well as writing
styles is indeed a strange coincidence.
This album is simply superb! Lee Saunders
is no Roger Waters, but if you like the Waters
style of music, you probably will like this album. As with many
Pink Floyd albums, upon first hearing it I was
not overly impressed, but after a few listenings the music and
the words began to grow on me more and more and more. The whole
album is so extremely well done that upon the third listening,
I have fallen in love with it. The lead guitar is not the style
of Gilmour's but is still quite good. Had Roger
and Dave done the vocals, and Dave
done the guitar, this would undeniably be a Pink Floyd
album of high calibre.
"A Promise Of Peace"
by Lee Saunders is available from Crystal Music
International, and for more information contact Adam Scott at
Crystal Music International, P.O.Box 2031, Hove, East Sussex,
BN3 7HR, England. This album is endorsed by the Royal British
Legion, Sussex County, England, and a donation from each sale
will be made to the Poppy Appeal, a charity working for world
peace. (ala the attached plastic red poppy).
Reviewed by Michael Simone.
