FEATURED CD: Citizen Cain - Somewhere But Yesterday

[Poisoned Youth]

One of the finer neo-prog albums from the mid 90s imo. While I enjoyed this one and Serpents, I don't think CC was ever quite able to re-capture the magic of this album.



Review from ProgArchives:

When first putting the CD on and glancing through the lyric sheet, I was a bit confused though as there are some words written down for what appears to be a track called 'Preface', which doesn't seem to appear to be on the album, but there is an instrumental played before 'Jonny Had Another Face' comes in, which may or may not be 'Preface'.

Anyway moving on, the first track is 'Jonny Had Another Face', which is an excellent track, complex, but thoroughly entertaining, lasting some ten and a half minutes. This is one of those tracks that grabs your attention straight away, the music wanders through many different moods, with some wonderful keyboards and guitar, while Cyrus's vocals are reminiscent to Peter Gabriel's GENESIS early '70's period. Towards the end the track changes and moves into 'Parallel Lines', I am not sure if this is supposed to be part of "Jonny." or whether it's a separate track, it works as either.

'Junks and Donuts' is another highly complex track, though appears to be a slightly quieter track, starting with some nice classical guitar, changes to electric and Cyrus's vocals come in. Already you can sense a strong melody. All of a sudden heavy guitar and keyboards come in, but only for a short time. There are many changes in direction, mood and tempo throughout this track and it has its moments when the band are really rocking. There's some nice flute parts in a similar vein to early Genesis and JETHRO TULL.

Another tagged on track 'An Afterthought', a very short track at 21 secs with strange lyrics. This leads to the next track 'To Dance The Enamel-Faced Quee' this track has a superb bass line and some highly complex keyboards. The tempo of this track is constantly changing, but most of the time it's played at a fairly quick pace. Great guitar and stunning keyboards. Now comes the longest track on the album at a mere 25 minutes, the title track 'Somewhere but yesterday', divided into six sections: 'Owls'. 'Obsessions', 'The Ballad of Creepy John', 'Echoes-The Labyrinth Penunbra', 'All the Sin's Men' and 'Farewell'.

'Owls', starts off with fade in keyboards, and then some intricate guitar. Cyrus's vocals again are reminiscent of Peter GABRIEL, but this is nice, soft and inviting. 'Obsessions', great bass, strong keyboards and great guitar. Vocals are superb and there's a strong melody and catchy chorus. Nice changes in direction, mood and tempo. 'The Ballad of Creepy John', this track starts off with the vocals sounding like a nursery rhyme, then goes into the track properly, nice track that kinda creepy (creepy John is a spider) 'Echoes - The Labyrinth Penunbra', intricate guitars, atmospheric keyboards and soothing flute while the drums play in a military style. When the vocals come in there's a double set of lyrics that come at you from different speakers. 'All The Sin's Men', starting with some stunning guitar work and nice keyboards and then there's a nice combination/interaction between keyboards and guitar, the Cyrus comes in with his version of the Lord's Prayer. 'Farewell' is more emotional, great vocals, guitar and keyboards with the end of the track fading to the sound of a piano and keyboards.

'A Word In Your Ear', sees some House of Lords speaker waffling on about "the role of the multi national company" before "retiring to the pub" with pubs sounds and a Yorkshire poet quoting some prose. The final track is 'Strange Barbarians', on this track there are some strong keyboards, powerful vocals from Cyrus. There some great bass going on and there's a few other influences on this track, VDGG and CAMEL, this sequel into 'The Mother's Shroud', this track is around two and a half minutes long with Cyrus's vocals sounding more like a preacher and some stunning guitar work and then the whole thing ends with the sound of an explosion and the for the last minute there is just the sound of wind effects, and the right at the end, you get an unexpected one off chord. If you set your CD player to loop you will see that this chord fits in with a similar chord at the start of the album.

This is one of those albums that grows on you, now I am not saying that I didn't like tit the first time I played it, in fact I thought it was good, but now after listening to it several times I think it is a stunning album, the more you play it the more you'll like it. This is an album for all progrock fans and lovers of early GENESIS, Go out and buy! - Greger

[Progatron]

First one I heard and still my favourite - but I've bought them all, including the two Stewart Bell solo discs. Very much in the Foxtrot-era Genesis sound, and I don't say that in a negative way.

The most recent - and apparently final Citizen Cain album Skies Darken features a reprise of the lines from the end of Jonny Had Another Face, but sung in a different key ("Lost somewhere in a crowded street...")

Good stuff to be found on all the albums, but this is the strongest IMO!

[infandous]

My personal favorite by them is Raising the Stones. I don't think they really found their "sound" until that album. On this one, they sound very much like a band that is wearing their early Genesis influences quite openly on their sleeve, so to speak. That said, I like the album quite a bit and think it's very good in an, album Genesis never made but should have kind of way. I wouldn't call them copy cats as their approach is much darker and the vocals are a more one dimensional than Genesis (no Phil Collins backing vocals and harmonies, for one thing). Still, it's hard to get past the very derivative nature of this album, something that I don't personally have a problem with but it's in the back of my mind every time I hear this. The next 3 albums would be much more interesting to me, with the follow up to this one still being my absolute favorite. Serpents in Camouflage I find quite dull and uninteresting and is easily my least favorite by these guys (I can't say I really like it at all, actually).

Still, the playing is wonderful on Somewhere But Yesterday and I really like the vocals and lyrics. So still a very good album, IMO.

[Yves]

Loved this one and Serpents (my original moniker was from Serpents). Been a long while since I spun either one... Might be time for a little nostalgia trip...

[JKL2000]

First one I heard and still my favourite - but I've bought them all, including the two Stewart Bell solo discs. Very much in the Foxtrot-era Genesis sound, and I don't say that in a negative way.

The most recent - and apparently final Citizen Cain album Skies Darken features a reprise of the lines from the end of Jonny Had Another Face, but sung in a different key ("Lost somewhere in a crowded street...")

Good stuff to be found on all the albums, but this is the strongest IMO!

I think it was you who pointed me toward Skies Darken, and I love it. But Somewhere But Yesterday is also a great one.

[mozo-pg]

I like the artwork on the CD cover. I haven't played it in ages.

[Rarebird]

I only have Serpents, which I found rather cheap in a store selling mostly irregulars.

[Progatron]

My personal favorite by them is Raising the Stones. I don't think they really found their "sound" until that album.

I like that one (and it might be the most epic album opening of all time) but I think it suffers a bit without real drums.

[TheH]

Although this album has "cliche" written all over it, I really like it. By far the best album by CC Mark II, although I like Serpents also.
Some good stuff from the times Neo Prog had some edges and balls left, which is totally lost now. Their later albums are somewhat forgettable.

I still prefer CC Mark I though (their tape album was sold as Ghost Dance on CD later). They where the leftovers of "Not Quite Red Fox"
a band only known for firing a certain "Fish" after his first gig because he couldn't sing (plus Cyrus).

Second crossing of Cyrus with Marillion was when they actually asked him to join the band after a gig both bands played. Obviously they
had to much beer that night as they forgot to exchange any contact information..

[Progbear]

Meh. I have this one and the one before it, Serpents in Camouflage, and neither did anything for me. It’s like they had the raw elements of a Genesis sound but no meat, no memorable melodies, nothing to grab hold onto. Just pointless melodrama and some pretty heinous keyboard sounds. I’ll take Marillion over these guys any day, at least I can remember their songs when it’s done playing.

[Progatron]

I could probably hum several melodies from just about every track on this album. Different strokes, I guess!

[aith01]

Hmm... I think Citizen Cain and Marillion mined very different veins within the territory of so-called "neo-prog". Both would fit under that umbrella perhaps, but their approaches and objectives were quite different.

While I'm less-familiar with Citizen Cain, I really do like Skies Darken. Great, ominous sounding symphonic rock. Kept meaning to go exploring through the back catalog, but life got in the way I suppose...

[interbellum]

Meh. I have this one and the one before it, Serpents in Camouflage, and neither did anything for me. It’s like they had the raw elements of a Genesis sound but no meat, no memorable melodies, nothing to grab hold onto. Just pointless melodrama and some pretty heinous keyboard sounds. I’ll take Marillion over these guys any day, at least I can remember their songs when it’s done playing.

I've had the same experience (and the same albums). After I got the albums when they were released on SI MUSIC I played them and stocked them. Especially the very long passages with lyrics and instrumental parts that aren't fitting together naturally made me feel this way. But it's nice to see people like it.

[miamiscot]

This is my only exposure to Citizen Cain and, although I enjoyed the music, those Gabriel-aping vocals kind of throw me off...

[Splicer]

Too many words. The music does not have a moment to breathe with all the lyrics jammed into each song.

[Poisoned Youth]

Too many words. The music does not have a moment to breathe with all the lyrics jammed into each song.

This is actually my issue with the later albums I have heard. SBY can sometimes get to that level, but unlike others I find there to be many memorable melodies and moments on the album.

[Steve983]

Too much 'Genesis by numbers' and no real originality to my ears......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[Yves]

If I heard it in 2017 for the first time I wouldn't have warmed to it, but back in 1995 or so, when I first heard it, it was a revelation. Today, I can only hear it through the rosy tint of nostalgia.

[dnieper]

This is one of the first modern prog albums I ever bought, and I still think it's a pretty great album, full of unique character and plenty of memorable melodies. I think *later* CC albums sometimes went too far into the hard-to-remember-anything direction, but SbY sounds just fine to me.

I just checked out TheH's interesting Marillion-Citizen Cain connection reference, and it appears to be true, according to the Citizen Cain website. It adds some ironic perspective on the "Marillion ripoff" label:

"Cyrus – Edinburgh, the early 70’s, Progressive Rock was in it’s prime, and so too was a young bass player named Cyrus Scott who with friend Gordon Feenie formed the band Not Quite Red Fox. This name may be familiar to fans of another Scottish singer named Fish, as they were the band that rejected him on his first ever audition! Ironically, around the same time, at a gig in Luton, where Not Quite Red Fox were competing in Battle of the Bands, Cyrus was approached by an up and coming group of musicians named Marillion, who thought his Gabriel-esque vocals would be perfect for their particualr style of music. Unfortunately their were communication problems and after Cyrus and his band mates returned to Scotland no further contact was made. Although this alternative Marillion line-up would have been proven to be a very interesting parallel for many prog fans, it was not to be. The position was left open for the man that Not Quite red Fox had turned away and Cyrus was left walking another path."

(http://citizencain.nl/cyrus/)

[Trane]

typically the kind of neo-prog I started to dislike in the mid-90's (though CC was borderline OK for me)

Although this album has "cliche" written all over it, I really like it. By far the best album by CC Mark II, although I like Serpents also.
Some good stuff from the times Neo Prog had some edges and balls left, which is totally lost now. Their later albums are somewhat forgettable.

I still prefer CC Mark I though (their tape album was sold as Ghost Dance on CD later). They where the leftovers of "Not Quite Red Fox"
a band only known for firing a certain "Fish" after his first gig because he couldn't sing (plus Cyrus).

Second crossing of Cyrus with Marillion was when they actually asked him to join the band after a gig both bands played. Obviously they
had to much beer that night as they forgot to exchange any contact information..

Your post enlightens a certain kind of rivalry vbetween CC and Marillion, which I kind of find strange (outside the Fish/Red Fox thing)...

Because if CC aped what Genesis did for most of their career, Marilion's only album really hinting at Genesis is Script (ok, another half point for Grendel)... the others don't have much in common, be they from the Fish era or the Hogarth era.

Oddly enough Marillion inspired more bans to ape them than ape Genesis. And by the time CC came to "prominence" in the prog microcosm it was a different generation: Marillion (and IQ to a lesser extent, because they were poppy by the early 90's) was on a grander scale than all the bands that cloned them and class of their own compared to CC, Aragon, Arkana etc...

Too many words. The music does not have a moment to breathe with all the lyrics jammed into each song.

I can say the same thing for Misplaced Chilhood. And many more neo-prog bands.

If I heard it in 2017 for the first time I wouldn't have warmed to it, but back in 1995 or so, when I first heard it, it was a revelation. Today, I can only hear it through the rosy tint of nostalgia.

Well, I got "lucky" enough t hear that a couple of years sooner than 95 (maybe not at release time, though), but I was WTF'ing away.

But I totally get what you're saying: in the early 90's, there weren't tons of "prog" bands to quench your thirst with:
there was the Magna Carta label stuff (let's add Dream Theatre to that)
the Swedish trilogy (and PLP as well)
the Synphonic label stuff.
the Marillion-clones (an international thing, since Australia & Italy were "hit" by the syndrome)
a few odd bands in the Belgo-French area (mostly the Musea new releases of the times)

Outside the Swedish thing, I never got much into the other

[spacefreak]

This is my only exposure to Citizen Cain and, although I enjoyed the music, those Gabriel-aping vocals kind of throw me off...

Myself as well. Received it as a gift back in the 90s. Not bad, but not something that had intrigued me to further proceed with them.

[infandous]

I like that one (and it might be the most epic album opening of all time) but I think it suffers a bit without real drums.

Sorry for the late reply..............I agree, though they don't spoil the music for me. Also, I recall reading that Stewart Bell actually did play some real drums on it, though I guess not a whole lot and most likely (though I'm just guessing on this point) just percussion, not an actual kit. Anyway, I think a real drummer might have broadened their support. I just thought the music was good enough to let that slide.

[infandous]

Too many words. The music does not have a moment to breathe with all the lyrics jammed into each song.

That was my initial reaction to the album as well, though sitting and listening with the booklet in hand I came to love it. I don't get to listen much like that anymore, which I miss. I think that was how I was able to get into some albums that didn't initially do much for me.

[stevedian]

Always liked them but never loved them. Haven't listened to them in ages. Actually always preferred the Watch when it comes to sounding like Peter Gabriel Genesis. Is Citizen Cain still together.

[sergio]

Somewhere was their absolute best!. great memorable tunes, hardly anything in plain 4/4. Complexity surpassed anything Genesis had created, so I can't see why CC are compared to Genesis. And drums were real on that one. They used sampled drums on Stones. CC (XC) might be the 'darkest' band ever
CC stopped, and Bell is on his own now.