John Simms' Light Trails: Chromatology

John Simms has been at this for quite a while now. His band Clear Blue Sky was around at the time of the surging popularity of hard and progressive rock in the 70's, and he's been noodling about ever since. In his project Light Trails, John applies his over 50(!) years of experience in a variety of ways and brings us his latest album Chromatology; an album that is both admirable and sleep inducing at the same time.

As stated earlier, John is no stranger to the world of rock. He's seen a lot, he's done a lot. and that means he's aged a lot. Being aged doesn't have to be a disadvantage, though. While you aren't going to be able to replicate the piss and vinegar and hunger of youth when you are 70 years old, there's plenty of artists that can bring it in their older age and deliver mature, interesting, and classy material. I'm not saying this to rag on the man's age (because it's just a number, after all), but this album just feels old. Most songs are slow and meandering, and for the most part largely go nowhere as John nails some tasty licks on his guitar and some spacey, sci-fi synths sound off in the background. What vocals there are of little consequence, and John's wispy and airy vocal chords don't do any favors.

There's not much in the way of memorability on Chromatology, as nearly the entire album is at the same tempo, and you can only hear the same (competently played) blues/jazz guitar licks over and over before your mind begins to drift off. Everything does sound pretty good sonically, however. John's guitar tone is buttery and smooth, and the keys are everything you'd ever want to hear in a soundtrack to a Star Trek convention. I don't even mean that in a bad way. It's distant, soothing, and appropriately spacey. That just doesn't really equate to an interesting listen when it's applied to an entire full length LP.

Like I said earlier, I do find this release admirable, because let me assure you when I'm 70-ish years old you'd be hard pressed to find me doing much of anything but sipping scotch on my front porch complaining about how they don't make music like Sonata Arctica's golden years anymore. Mr. Simms clearly has a lot of passion for the craft, and is still a damn competent musician and engineer. It's a shame Chromatology is such a slog. But hey, if you're leading a roundtable at the next Babylon 5 get together at comic con, make sure you have this one at the ready.

Track List:
1 Night Star
2 Step Into The Light
3 Incandescence
4 Lodestar
5 Light Trails
6 The Mystery Of Light
7 Circle At Dawn.
8 Are We Nothing

Added: October 15th 2021
Reviewer: Brandon Miles
Score:
Related Link: Artist Website
Hits: 937
Language: english

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