Rocking Horse Music Club- The Last Pink Glow Progressive Voyages Review PV038
Rocking Horse Music Club – The Last Pink Glow - PV038
This will invariably be a release that garners a significant degree of attention, in part because amongst the tracks is one that features the first new Tony Banks music since the cessation of Genesis in March of 2022, Tony provides additional keyboards to the albums third track , more about that further in the review,
This is Rocking Horse Music Clubs 4th album , the other being Every Change Of Seasons (2018), Which Way The Wind Blows (2019), Circus Of Wire Dolls(2022) , and now comes this latest one: The Last Pink Glow [2025].
This album continues the bands hybrid of Symphonic prog and crossover Prog in addition the album is based around the unfinished novella The haunted life by Jack Kerouac (he of On The Road fame) which in turn they were inspired to attempt after the critical success of Circus Of Wire Dolls which was in turn influenced by the works of author Thomas Wolfe (the writer from the early 1900’s).
The Last Pink Glow was an unfinished novella written by Jack Kerouac, and the band were allowed to access the manuscript to offer a musical interpretation of the writings themes and characters of the novella. Aided by Jack Kerouac ‘s Literary executor Jim Sampras and in conjunction with Brian Coombes who arranged much of the album along with playing keyboards and vocals for the album.
The story is set in 1941 as Peter Martin is returns to Galloway Massachusetts after his first year at university, where he and his friends attempt to spend the summer re visiting the carefree days of youth, However they cannot ignore the wars raging around the world as the know that they are unwittingly being drawn into a global conflagration, whilst at home Peter is tormented by his opinionated and domineering father and his departed brother, intrinsically the story is about the end of childhood innocence, the fraying of familial bonds and the uncertainty bought about by war.
The albums picks up on the themes, not all of them however it does address these in parts. Across it’s 11 tracks there’s a variety of musical approaches, many progressive leaning along with traces of Americana, Jazz and even Blues.
Let’s have a look at it shall we?
The album Commences with Haunted, starting with keyboards and a delicately picked acoustic guitar part, the song relates how Peter is haunted by the man he’ll never be and by wars in front of him. In reading this you get the impression that the departed brother was favoured over Peter which gives him a sense of a height he has to compete with. The chorus in this track is very impressive and memorable, there is a brief guitar solo between the chorus and the last verse and that splendid chorus this is a very skilful song, its words are clear and strong as is the accompanying music a wonderfully evocative opening track.
It’s The Small Thing is next, this song is about striving to keep the childhood alive, against which he is trying to reconcile that his immortality will not last especially in the troubled times he is anticipating coming, the trumpet by Wes Thurber makes a strong impression here as do the outstanding lyrics of the track, this track is so beautifully evocative of a time gone bye, I really do appreciate thus song I think it’s wonderful, as is the music that has both jazz and blues embellishments throughout.
The next track The Haunted Life is the track that Tony Banks plays on adding his subtle keyboards to proceedings, His contributions are subtle and largely piano based, but even so they add to the overall positive effect of the track, the track concerns itself with the loss of carefree youth, the guitar fills by Myron Kibbee are graceful and blend gracefully with Tony’s piano lines
The song is dedicated to the recently departed Genesis road crew member and friend Richard Mcphail, again its a fine song.
If We’re Silent & We Listen follows and this song has an edge to it especially in the guitars which have a very rock sensibility to them, courtesy of Andrew Rotunno also impressive besides the ever impressive vocals of Justin Cohn are the cello, viola and violins that add an orchestrated sheen to the track the song is about remembering the victims and those lost in the war, this is another instance of strong imagery and words.
The Ballad of Joe Martin concerns itself with his domineering and opinionated father, this is another strong song with a great vocal from Justin A fine guitar solo from Andrew Rotunno in the middle section along with a very memorable chorus in this great track.
Changing Channels is next this is about not wanting to be stuck in an unfulfilled life and wanting to make something of his life, a fine keyboard section in the middle part of the song and towards the songs conclusion.
This is followed by The Ballad Of Wesley Martin which is another really good track with lots of imagery and feelings about his departed brother and the impact of his departure is still felt in Peters life, there is a lot of great subtle guitar flourishes in this song and some slide guitar parts, a very evocatively written song. Very impressive.
Splitting Atoms is up next, this is the albums second longest track at 7:40 in length, this song is about how Peter now understands why his brother chose to leave the family, realising that he brother elected to go for his own sanity and life as he was being crushed and suffocated by their father and his ways, some great parts to this strong and masterful track really impressive track.
Restless Wanderers is a short mainly instrumental piece although there are some unclear vocals in the mix , along with a saxophone solo, and lots of keyboards sounds, its brevity is appreciated as it doesn’t really add much to the album and serves as an interlude before Big City Small Town Blues, which kicks of with some biting slide guitar and has a great groove to it. This is a raunchy blues song it has a strong melody, great words and instrumentation and a fine slide guitar solo to boot, a fantastic and very satisfying song.
This leads to the albums final and longest and title track The Last Pink Glow which is 12 minutes 47 seconds in length. This means the song has space to explore its themes of the brevity of life and the inevitability of change. Also the need to be something of worth as we face this haunted life.
The words to the majority of the songs include lines written by Jack Kerouac and incorporated by the group into the songs, this is most noticeable in this song and also Big City Small Town Blues
I have to say this album is a delight to listen to it is very mature and yyetstill accessible to everyone I hope this album gets a lot of acclaim for it’s depth, emotional maturity and conviction. It really is a great album which I heartily recommend to all who appreciate well crafted and delivered much such as this offers to listeners.
Info here: www.rockinghorsemusicclub.com
Author John Wenlock-Smith.