The Bride Said No: Nad Sylvan (Inside Out Music)

Nad Sylvan is riding the continued wave of interest in prog rock.

His last album, Courting The Widow, was well received and he seems to have taken the acclaim and the confidence that comes with it as a springboard for an excellent follow-up, The Bride Said No.

As usual, the musicianship isfirst class - among those playing are ex-Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, with whom Sylvan has toured extensively (for example on the hugely-successful Genesis Revisited tour); Roine Stolt and Tony Levin.

The first highlight is The Quartermaster, with its choppy guitar intro and its zingy synth.

But it's the slower numbers that impressed me most. When The Music Dies is a sad lament while th Pink-Floyd-esque What Have You Done builds slowly and then unleashes an extended series of guitar solos.

It's probably the nest track on the album, although the gloriously romantic A French Kiss In An Italian Cafe - with its bitter sweet nostalgic memories of a brief encounter long ago - runs it close and comes with a lovely saxophone moment, which reminded me of both 1980s Spandau Ballet and also a little of Al Stewart's Year Of The Cat.

I wasn't too keen on the first half of The White Crown - a bit too folky and twee for me - but the epic twelve minutes or so of the title track, The Bride Said No, which closes the album, grew on me with each listening and contains some classy prog musical interludes.

Sylvan is a very talented singer and song-writer and is currently mining a rich seam. I am already loking forward to his next album.

ANDREW THOMAS