Things were better honed for No-Man on Flowermouth,
released a year after the band's debut. Minus Ben Coleman (although you'd never
guess because he appears on seven of nine tracks), Tim Bowness and Steven
Wilson were aided by Robert Fripp, Ian Carr, Steve Jansen, and Richard Barbieri
(who recorded the excellent set Flame with Bowness in the same year). Beginning
with the epic "Angel Gets Caught in the Beauty Trap," which is almost
ten minutes, things flow as Bowness' soothing vocal gives way to solos by Carr
and Fripp. "You Grow More Beautiful" is another hit that might have
been, while "Animal Ghost" is what Arthur Ransom, the author of
Swallows and Amazons, might have sounded like had he chosen music instead of
literature; a very English affair with a meandering piano line and flute solo.
"Soft Shoulders" is the closest to a throwaway, but "Shell of a
Fighter" restores order, an enthralling piece expanding to nearly eight
minutes of lilting pastoral verse, quiet passages of electronics, and an
all-out storm of squally guitars and ferocious drumming. "Teardrop
Falls," one of their best, is a paced yet graceful pop dance tune.
Flowermouth has serenity, too, in "Watching Over Me," which may have
been better following "Shell." "Simple" uses a sample
courtesy of Lisa Gerrard of Dead Can Dance, roaming through contemporary club
beats to reach a haunting climax. "Things Change" is the endgame,
with the lyrics "You're leaving me behind you, I hate the way things
change" sung in earnest. Gentle again, giving way to Wilson's emotionally
wrought guitar mimicking the gut wrenching agony of love lost. A masterpiece of
writing and playing recommended beyond reason.
