The pile is down to its nadir after this lot. Because of the dirth of review material in my "review file", I have revisited something I had put to one side and found it to me far better than at first listen. Granted it is possible that another entry into this week's column so lowered the barrier as to make it more acceptable.

CD reviews

The Circus in Your Town

This lot are unsigned and consider themselves to be hard rock/experimental whatever that means. To me its thrashy metal with a lead singer who likes his indie more than he does his metal. The only problem with this release, which shows a deal of promise, is the fact that it's at least three tracks too long with the final track leaving an unfortunate bad taste to end things. However there is decent stuff on here including "Earth." Worth seeking out if you like yer rough and tenuous rock music. With a bit of honing their skills and a clearer focus they could be onto something rather good; there is certainly talent lurking therein.

Moonbird

This is one of those that I was damn near going to just completely ignore and not write a review for...yes its that atrocious. Think a really badly done attempt at Pink Floyd by two blokes consisting of most programming and someone who really can't sing, who is the one who sings most of the tracks. This CD is so bad its painful to listen to all the way through. Ironically one of the longest tracks on here is their best in the form of "90,000" and its not sung by the lead singer. A complete and utter waste of a CD.

California Transit Authority: Full Circle

Once in a dog's age comes along something that truly enthrals me. This is one such disc, featuring the original drummer of Chicago, formerly know as the Chicago Transit Authority, now relocated to California and reinvigorated. Saraphine was ejected from Chicago in the early '90s for lots of reasons and dropped out of music completely. This is his return and a return to old territory, his former bands early past.