Another nice review from an Amazon reviewer...:
M. Gaines
5,0 sur 5 étoiles Brilliant and Heartfelt.............
États-Unis le 20 janvier 2004
"Justin Sullivan has created an epic masterpiece of songwriting and
story telling with "Navigating By the Stars", perhaps one of the most
overlooked recorded pieces of music of 2003.
Sullivan, who is the main figure in New Model Army, one of the most
underrated groups in the Clash/U2/Jam genre of music, wrote most of
their politicaly working class oriented epics of which 1989's "Thunder
& Consolation" and 1986's "The Ghost of Cain" stand as pivitol
achievments in their recorded history.
With a strong European cult following, NMA have remained the
quintessential musical representatives of the repressed working class,
evoking strong anthem driven themes of disenchantment and
disillusionment with the current social struggles befalling the
average world citizen. Having followed NMA since its inception,
I had, late in 2003, heard and read reports of Sullivan's solo effort
in putting to music his experience of traveling across the ocean by
boat, not as a passenger, but as one of the crew.
In stepping away from his political musical positon and in choosing to
share his visions and love of the sea, Sullivan has come up with one
of the most deeply and emotionally musicaly experienced albums not
since heard of since Springsteen's journey into the Badlands with
"Nebraska".
With "Navigating By the Stars" the listener is transported into a
musical soundscape that leaves you breathless with it's beauty to
actually feel what's being communicated on this journey at sea.
On the opening track "Twilight Home" you can taste the salt water, see
the brilliant night sky filled with a million stars, and hear the sea
splashing against the bow.
As Jack Rabid states in his review "This is the warmest, richest, most
deeply involving music imaginable, all spooky hush and solitary
contemplation. Forgoing drums almost entirely and ingeniously
employing standup acoustic bass to add a nimble, near-jazzy quality to
the lightly brushed acoustic guitars, beguiling piano, meditative
organ, and bits of strings, Sullivan creates a web of sound that is
impossible to categorize".
Surrounded by the ambient solitude of his musical accompanyment,
Sullivan has taken a giant leap into the inner realms of his spiritual
essence of his creative force and we're lucky enough that he chose to
allow us an oppertunity to experience its radient beauty.
"In between the power and politics in NMA, there has always been a
strong sense of mysticism and spirituality and it's that which is the
central core of this album", quotes Sullivan.
I couldn't agree more after experiencing repeated listenings it's like
a novel that's impossible to put down. Amazing......................."
It's a great album to introduce "people who are into mellower music" to the band.
Very true...i know people who don't especially like the music of NMA, when they listeneed to NBTS it was a kind of "revelation"...they loved it!!
