Colin Powell is a busy chap, someone Ms Reeves, The Prisoner of the Treasury, might do well to cop hold of in order to get a decent plan in place to improve the flatlining productivity of a once great nation.

Hot on the heels of his Multitude of One release The Book of Enoch (see my review of this by pressing the button below), comes a new project, Riffstone, in collaboration with Dave Allen of Spirergy, who was inspired by Colin’s A Templar’s Tale. The album is being released on the anniversary of the death of the eponymous king, so 22nd August, available on Bandcamp, and you can get physical copy of this. https://riffstone.bandcamp.com/album/richard-iii

Richard III was the last of the Plantagenet line in Britain. He was the Yorkist king, defeated by Henry Tudor (thereafter Henry VII) at the Battle of Bosworth Field, and our understanding and bias towards him were very much tainted by Shakespeare, a great wordsmith, but a lousy historian. History, of course, is always written by the winners, and it would not have done Will’s career any good under the Tudors to wax lyrical about their mortal enemy. After centuries of speculation as to where his remains lay, remarkably a major archaeological dig in 2012 found them in Leicester, and they were interred with great pomp and ceremony.

Fourteen tracks on this sprawling concept work, so let’s examine and listen to a couple of tracks.

As with all decent historical concept albums, it opens with an instrumental as a kind of overture to the main piece, in this case Richard’s Tale. The narrative asks the question who the man was and seeks to separate fact from fiction. The guitar solo in this is sumptuous and rich, the bass work thumping, the piano and synths producing an orchestral tapestry, the choral voices effective, alongside some Wakeman type synths. It serves its purpose as a hors d’oeuvre very well, leaving you wanting more.

The story of the king is told with each piece of music. There is a deft use of the richness of the mellotron in the album, and immediately you are struck by how well the pair work together. I have always liked Colin’s vocals, expressive and impressive range, and they harmonise together nicely. Everywhere the guitar bursts please the inveterate prog rock listener, but I might add that there is an inherent commercial sensibility to much of what you hear on this album, taking stock of artists such as Alan Parsons Project, Barclay James Harvest, and the like, all of which press the right buttons for me.

We do have three pieces released prior to the official album launch, so let’s embed them below. First, Plantagenets, then Wars of the Roses, and lastly, Lord Protector (he was appointed this following the death of Edward IV for the eldest son and heir, Edward V, although the marriage of the late king was found to be bigamous, and, thus, young fellow-me-lad was barred from the throne, ending up, alongside his brother, in the Tower of London as “the princes in the tower”, never to be seen again).

You will note the deftness of the Hammond at the beginning of Plantagenets (which contains more than a nod to Big Big Train), you will hear exactly what I mean on all of them about the staggeringly good bass fretwork, the sense of melody inherent in words and music, knowing lyrics to the conclusion of the medieval period and the start of what started to be recognised as the beginning of the modern period of our history.

I like the darker tone of Wars of the Roses, the undercurrent of the horrific nature of warfare in that (or, indeed, any) period put across so well in the foundations which underpin the vocals, the synths overlaying menacing, not warm at all, heavy riffs on the guitars and bass, the guitar solo urgent.

Lord Protector has a romantic tinge to it, the lightness of the piano pleasing and dreamy, reflecting the inevitable ambition Richard would have had on his appointment. There are some heavier bursts, and this is a fine example of how they use the mellotron in the composition, creating a trademark high end cinematic effect, and you will love the heavy guitar burst when it arrives, born, one suspects, of the two protagonists simply sitting down and exchanging sound.

So, those three tracks, and my summary, will hopefully give you a strong indication of what to expect, which is simply a very pleasing continuation of that rich tradition started by Wakeman all those years ago of turning a fascinating, historical story, whether fantasy or fact, into a coherent, intelligent, and pleasingly progressive musical narrative.

Recommended.