THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD Through and Through (Laser's Edge, 2000)

Interesting how the indie/underground music world works. Unbeknownst to the DFW music scene, a band in our own backyard, the Fort Worth-based Underground Railroad, has been creating an anticipation for themselves on an international scale amongst the prog rock crowd. Up to this point, their only release was one song on a Canterbury tribute that came out on the Italian-based Mellow Records last year. Prog rock fans worldwide had been waiting for The Underground Railroad's debut release for about a year before it finally came out last June on the Laser's Edge label, Laser's Edge are behind new releases by Kansas, Steve Morse, Fates Warning and Goblin to name a few, so The Underground Railroad are in good company.

The Underground Railroad is pretty much a project co-fronted by fusion guitarist Bill Pohl and keyboardist Kurt Rongey. Both of these guys have been playing locally for years; Rongey released a solo album a few years ago that received international acclaim amongst the prog rock crowd. You may know bassist Matt Hembree from the local fusion/pop band Bindle, who have played in one of DALLASMUSIC.COM's past showcases and have pulled a regular crowd at The Wreck Room in Fort Worth. All that to say that there is plenty of musical experience in this group despite the "new band" tag.

Through and Through was recorded over a period of two years, which means the band took their time to hone this record to perfection. Which they did well, musically at least. Can you imagine a jazz/prog fusion oratorio? That's the best way I can explain this record. The band that comes to mind when I listen to this is Happy the Man, a quintet from Virginia who released two overlooked albums on Arista in the late 1970's when the punk boom was at it height (which is probably why they were overlooked). "Mars", the shortest track and best place to start listening to this album, reminds me of Bill Bruford's (drummer for Yes and King Crimson) first couple of solo albums. You could split this record into two "sides" (as if it were a vinyl LP), each starting with a four- or five-minute song followed be a 20-minute plus suite. As dull as that sounds, the music flows so seamlessly from track to track and section to section that you really don't notice the minutes flying by.

Through and Through came along at just the right time seasonally, as this would be great driving music for the weather we're currently having here in Texas. As the sun shine warmly and lovingly upon you as you leisurely drive through your favorite part of town, so the jazz fusion chords immerse you in a gentle, almost romantic warmth. Simultaneously the open window of your car bathes you with comfortably cool breeze, so the vast crispness of the sound blows coolly over you. You are warm and cool all at once. All you need is for your car to be a convertible Jaguar with a white interior and you have the ultimate autumn cruise.

Well, almost. Through and Through has a few problems that keep it short of musical perfection (if such a thing is possible). The main one is that the lyrics often trip up the music, as is painfully obvious in the opening few lines. The lyrics sound like they were added after the compositions were complete. They try to be poetic and intelligent but come off stuffy and uninspiring. Happy the Man had the same problem, and I've heard numerous other prog rock bands trip up in this same area before, so they're not alone here. Lyrically speaking, "less is more" would have been appropriate for this album-don't rule out lyrics completely, just use them enough to add "human" presence but not distract from the music. If done correctly, no one will notice your album is mostly instrumental. Otherwise, it probably works better to write the lyrics and the music simultaneously. Also, there are times when the band misses opportunities to make the music more powerful emotionally by choosing chord progressions that idle the direction of the music instead of making it soar to the heavenlies or passionate tense and release. Nonetheless, it's still powerful regardless of possible should-have-could-have's.

I assume you should be able to order this CD from most record stores. If you can't find it, you can order it direct from http://www.lasercd.com, which is their record label's website. The official Undergorund Railroad website is http://www.fastlane.net/~ldm/ur maybe we'll get lucky and they'll play another local show soon!

--David Gasten, dallasmusic.com