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Almost a year after one of its songs (”Winter Light”) made a surprise appearance on the soundtrack from the big-budget, big-screen adaptation of The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe, Tim Finn’s new album is here at last, presenting a somewhat more polished and sedate sound than his previous two solo efforts, and yet with hints of some of his past musical endeavours.

There are hints of the old Split Enz quirkiness in “So Precious,” hints of Before & After funkiness in “Dead Flowers,” “Horizon” has an almost intangible similarity to the best songs from Big Canoe (and has just a little of the feel of New Radicals’ “You Get What You Give”), “Still The Song” has the feel of his previous two solo albums, and “Couldn’t Be Done” and “Show Yourself” have a little something of the blue-eyed-soul of his very first solo album. That’s not to say that any of these songs are anything less than original and enjoyable; instead, if you’ve liked any of the stylistic stops Tim’s made along his musical career, there’s at least one or two songs on Imaginary Kingdom that will instantly lodge themselves in your head.

There are also songs that are completely different from any of the styles he’s visited before; as I probably mentioned when reviewing the Narnia soundtrack, “Winter Light” is positively lovely and sedate, and “Astounding Moon” has something of the same orchestra-backed feel to it. “Unsinkable” has a quiet, stately feel to it, but even more than that, the lyrics are outstanding, using the sinking of the Titanic (!) as a metaphor for a child’s first realization of his parents’ mortality. That’s not a topic I recall having heard in a lot of pop music before. This is just another example of this album’s depths - there are plenty of layers to peel back, and plenty to enjoy.

Kudos to co-producer Bobby Huff and engineer/session player John Mark Painter (who happens to be a frequent collaborator with Ben Folds - now there’s someone who I’d pay good money to hear work with Tim in the future) for helping to smooth out the sound of this album; Huff is a surprising name to see here, given that his most recent credit that I can recall is the last Leann Rimes album. Ultimately, though, the music and lyrics are Tim’s babies, and this album is a crop of winners without a single misfire. Tim Finn definitely rules this Imaginary Kingdom.

1. Couldn’t Be Done (2:50)
2. Still The Song (2:48)
3. Astounding Moon (3:35)
4. Midnight Coma (2:52)
5. Salt To The Sea (3:45)
6. Horizon (3:23)
7. Dead Flowers (3:37)
8. Resting (Your Hand Lightly) (3:20)
9. Show Yourself (3:01)
10. Winter Light (4:10)
11. So Precious (3:19)
12. Unsinkable (2:55)

Released by: Parlophone
Release date: 2006
Total running time: 39:41

Compiled by Julian Knott, Space Adventures was a very limited-edition release (packaged first as a cassette and later, with bonus tracks, as a CD) compiling stock library music tracks from various sources that were used in the early years of Doctor Who. For a variety of reasons - budget being a frequent one - library music was often used in the show’s black & white days, simply because it was cheaper to pay for a needle drop on a stock music record than it was to have an original score composed. And while this may sound like a cheap way out today, several of these cues are now as indelibly associated with the Doctor’s journeys as any piece of specially composed incidental music that was ever created for the show.

Some time back, I reviewed a CD released to coincide with The Tenth Planet, containing several stock music cues that became a sonic signature for the sinister Cybermen. Space Adventures (which actually takes its title from the very same piece of music that accompanied the Cybermen’s early appearances) was the first public premiere of that work, and apparently it was no easy task. Music libraries, if they want to stay in business where paying clients are concerned, have to evolve with the times, creating newer, more modern pieces of music to offer and retiring older ones whose styles have fallen out of use. Such was the case with the various music libraries from which theese tracks were culled: with no demand for their more distinctly 60s-flavored tunes, the companies put the master tapes away in a vault with very little in the way of protection or preservation taking place. To make a long story short, it was up to an amateur soundtrack producer (with the benefit of expert advice) to restore the damaged tapes; if not for Knott, there would’ve been no Tenth Planet CD, because those library master tapes would have all but disintegrated.

The material archived here covers the first eight years of Doctor Who on TV, going all the way back to a piece of source music (that is, music that the characters in a scene can hear) used in part one of the first story, An Unearthly Child. The library tracks included feature both electronic and more traditional instrumentation, and while it’s nice stuff and lovingly restored, there’s a “diehards only” vibe about it all: it’s background music, with a capital “back” and capital “ground.” There are few real standout tracks, and it’s highly likely that a listener’s enjoyment of those tracks would be dependent on his familiarity with the episodes in which the music was used.

That aside, though, it’s a pity that the BBC has never relicensed this material, paid Knott for his hard work and re-released this collection as an official Doctor Who branded product, rather than as the fan-made CD that it is. The niche nature of the material does explain that a bit, but on a purely selfish level, copies of this CD are outrageously expensive on the collectors’ market, and listeners who don’t feel like having to choose between Space Adventures and paying their bills for a month would probably be forever grateful.

1. Three Guitars Mood 2 (2:04)
2. Machine Room (3:01)
3. Illustrations No. 4 - Little Prelude (1:28)
4. Asyndeton (0:29)
5. Illustrations No. 4 - Hunted Man (2:58)
6. Palpitations (0:36)
7. Telergic (0:45)
8. Lunar People - Andromeda (2:42)
9. Music For Technology Part One (1:36)
10. Electronic Music: Bathysphere (3:01)
11. Spine Chillers (1:25)
12. Space Adventure (2:17)
13. Power Drill (1:15)
14. Universe Sidereal (2:28)
15. Illustrations No. 4 - Frightened Man (4:44)
16. Electronic Music: Meteoroids (1:26)
17. Space Time Music Part One (1:25)
18. Space Time Music Part Two (1:21)
19. Musique Concrete II (2:22)
20. Impending Danger (2:13)
21. World Of Plants (2:32)
22. Desert Storm (1:54)
23. Musique Concrete (0:57)
24. Blast Off! (2:24)
25. Astronautics Suite (2:40)
26. Youngbeat (2:54)
27. Spotlight Sequins No. 1 (1:58)
28. Mutations (0:44)

Released by: Julian Knott
Release date: 1998 (original version released on cassette in 1987)
Total running time: 55:39

The idea behind the L.E.O. sessions were simple - indie pop artist Bleu Macauley and friends, acquaintances and colleagues from across North America would combine their talents, often by long distance, to create a tribute to the style, if not necessarily specific songs, of Jeff Lynne and ELO. Aside from Blue, just a few of the artists involved include Andy Sturmer (formerly of Jellyfish), the Hanson brothers (yes, those Hanson brothers), and quite a few others who have cut their teeth on the indie-label power pop circuit. And right from the first full song, it’s clear that the L.E.O. collective is settling for nothing less than an homage to ELO’s glory years - the period stretching from Face The Music through Out Of The Blue.

If that’s the sound you’re looking for, it’s nicely approximated in such tracks as “Distracted,” “Sukaz Are Born Every Minute,” and “Goodbye Innocence.” Fans of ELO’s funkier, less lush numbers will like “Make Me” and espeically “Ya Had Me Goin’”, which kicks off with an intro strongly reminiscent of “Evil Woman.” Even Lynne’s post-ELO, retro-rockabilly solo style is represented in one of the better songs, “Private Line.” Most of the songs here are winners, though there’s a “bonus track” (not quite 2 minutes of music at the end of a mostly empty, half-hour-long track) that’s basically an abbreviated version of “Don’t Bring Me Down” that smacks more of being a spoof than an homage. The album’s just a little bit short (for the total running time below, I deleted the long empty stretch of the bonus track so you can tell how much actual music there is), but there’s a great deal of promise here - enough to make me wonder if a follow-up is planned. This “group” - term loosely used - has successfully captured a style that’s not explored much these days, though the question is really whether or not enough people will take them up on the offer to make it worth the artists’ or the labels’ time. If you ever enjoyed the ELO sound, this album is definitely worth yours.

1. Overture (0:33)
2. Goodbye Innocence (3:51)
3. Ya Had Me Goin’ (3:10)
4. Distracted (4:18)
5. Make Me (3:00)
6. The Ol’ College Try (3:43)
7. Nothin’ Will Ever Change (4:12)
8. Don’t Let It Go (3:24)
9. Private Line (3:12)
10. Sukaz Are Born Every Minute (4:18)
11. Don’t Bring Me Down (1:55)

Released by: Cheap Lullaby Records
Release date: 2006
Total running time: 35:36