There's NO filler in this album, which is rare these days! This is the best album I've heard in a good while! I didn't think I would like it as well as Strange and Beautiful, but it's actually more solid, and it all fits together better than S&B. Take Keane's albums, for example, Keane albums have some beautiful songwriting, but the songs don't have a common theme, a common goal, they're all over the place emotionally. Alot of your one mand bands, like Aqualung more or less is, fail in this respect. However, this album is more like a Sargeant Peppers in that it pulls you in, and keeps you there, the whole lenght of the album! It doesn't drop you, or push you out of the mood, like so many albums do, but holds you in it's spell the entire length of the album. That is a really tricky thing to do, especially by a one man band, and is getting more rare. Radiohead did it with OK Computer, the Beatles did it with many of their albums, and the Who did it with Tommy. Those albums you come from feeling there was a theme, a common messaqe that was imprinted, not just a bunch of disjointed songs slapped together. With those kind of albums you feel like you get your money's worth. So it is with Memory Man.

Nine out of eleven, that is how many of the songs from this album have effortlessly made their home in my main playlist, which means I can't get tired of listening to them.

It IS different from his previous albums, there's less piano and more guitar; faster and louder songs, and a darling surpise in the middle. (creamy filling, perhaps?)

My single-worthy picks are:
Something to believe in - The third Aquasong I ever heard. Like Brighter than sunshine in that it feels like an instant classic.
Glimmer- So uplifting. It just soars.
Vapour Trail - Great build up, nice change of style, keeps things interesting.
Rolls so deep - You can't help but feel good and smile. A lovely surprise.
Outside - Their self-described "fast" song. Veeery good.
Cinderella - Fabulous arrangement, love the strong guitar and the quiet/loud contrasts.

The songs that bear more resemblance to their first album are IMO "Broken Bones" and "The lake". Quiet and melancholy with a fine melody.

A fantastic and diverse album, you won't be disappointed.

Aqualung has been one of my favorite artists for the longest time. Matt Hales really knows how to write beautiful lyrics and gorgeous melodies that only get better with each listen. Ever since I heard "Easier To Lie" I was hooked. I am so glad I found Aqualung and couldn't love this CD any more. It is well worth every cent!

I've followed Matt's career over the years with great pleasure, and this really is the culmination of what makes him so special. There are the blissful ethereal sounds that he does so well, but then if "Something To Believe In" isn't one of the finest pop tracks ever, I'll eat my proverbial hat.

When Aqualung's song "Brighter Than Sunshine" started getting rotation on VH1 a few years ago, critics and reviewers alike started to compare him to Chris Martin of Coldplay, something that I never really understood. It's too bad that that acclaim didn't result in strong album sales, because he was pretty much forgotten about a month or so after that. But he still comes back at us with Memory Man.

The problem that Aqualung has, however, is vocals. On his last album, Strange & Beautiful, he had the habit of singing so hard that he went off-key. HERE, he...well, maybe the problem isn't so much his voice, but the album's engineering. A lot of the time, his singing is so soft that I had to turn my volume all the way up to understand what he was saying, and I had the lyrics right in front of me. This is evident in songs like "Pressure Suit", "Cinderella", "The Lake" and "Garden of Love" (but the latter is pretty corny anyway).

But there are still notable songs, like "Black Hole", "Something to Believe In", "Outside" and my favorite, the funky "Rolls So Deep". But "Broken Bones", with its CB radio effect, is a little hard to get into. Memory Man is far from being a bad album, but I just wonder if Aqualung knows just what he wants to do with his voice yet. As I often say, borrow it first.

Anthony Rupert