Agent Cooper - Beginners Mind

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Agent Cooper - Beginners Mind

Artist:	Agent Cooper
Title:	Beginners Mind
Label:	Progrock Records (before that on Zero Sum Records)
Length(s):	46 minutes
Year(s) of release:	2005
Month of review:	[02/2006]

Line up

Doug Busbee - guitars, vocals
Eric Frampton - keyboards, other vocals
Sean Delson - bass
Frank Fontsere - drums
with
Glenn Longmuir - bass on 1, 2
Forrest Robinson - drums on 1, 2, 4, 7

Tracks

1)	East Indian Sun	5.34
2)	Shallow Disease	4.00
3)	...In The Bottle	3.53
4)	Taipei	3.51
5)	Timing Crucial	4.57
6)	I Never Remember	3.47
7)	The Heat	4.45
8)	She Screams	4.10
9)	Struggle Like I Do	6.29
10)	You Know	4.51

Summary

Years ago, I reviewed the debut of Agent Cooper, an excellent album of progressive pop. It took them awhile to deliver the second, in fact, I had all but given up hearing from them again.

The music

East Indian Sun opens wih sitar like sounds, slowly the vocals set in. Then the guitar and drums carnk up the volume for a plodding piece of rock, a bit in the style of Led Zeppelin's Kashmir. The guitar sometimes go into rhythm mode and together with an organ sound lends a bit more power. Busbee is a good vocalist who shows his prowess immediately on this rock track. The closest similarities I see are with Ritual (from Sweden). The band does keep the best for last in this song, the pacey vocals with the church organ underneath and the melodic guitar solo that follows. Excellent.

Shallow Disease continues in the same vein, a combination of hard guitarwork and catchy vocal melodies, and although the drums can be pretty straightforward bashing away, the songs are not so simple, and include quite a bit of melodic variation.

The same holds for the energetic rock of ...In The Bottle. Here the organ adds a bit of spice. Still, although the songs are strong, I do get the impression that I liked the previous album a bit more, sounding more ehm refined and delicate.

Taipei combines a plodding rock with a melodic chorus that is instantly memorable without being shallow. It seems to me that band uses more of a blues underground this time around.

Timing Crucial features a Fender Rhodes for more of a seventies feel, and rhythmically we get more variation. Again, we get an extremely sunny singalong chorus, with some prominent bass work. Sometimes I get a bit of a King's X feel, but with more variation in the melodies, and the melodies themselves are catchier/better too.

Halfway down the road, we encounter I Never Remember. Again, the organ sound pitted against a rock guitar. The symphonic side of the band is revealed in the middle section where the organ takes the lead. Does The Heat bring anything really new? Nope, all the usual suspects, although the pace is a bit higher, and there is a certain looseness/jamminess in place.

Time for some acoustic guitar, washes of it in fact. That is until the vocals of She Screams set in. This is a rather waltzy piece, lined by squeaky keyboards. The chorus is certainly very pop like, and the keyboards add a very specific, playful character. This is a good song to have here, for the variation. The piano work has a bit of a Tony Banks feel. The vocalist shows his qualities at the end of this excellent song.

In the opening of Struggle Like I Do, we even get a bit of mellotron, before the plodding powerchords set in. The melody lines can be somewhat Arabic. A short classical interlude with flute and acoustic guitar, followed by a power up extends this song beyond the length. This is indeed symphonic.

You Know closes the album, opening with nylon string acoustic guitars and soft vocals. It stays quiet on this introspective and tragic lovesong. The piano is played in a somewhat classical style.

Conclusion

Like on their debut, Agent Cooper writes good songs, and with Busbee they have a very good and sympathetic singer. The music is certainly not prog or symphonic (except a bit of mellotron in the excellent She Screams, and a symphonic ending to Struggle Like I Do), instead the band takes a sophisticated, melodic approach to rock with catchy choruses that are often right on the spot. The drummer may not be that adventurous, the songs are certainly varied enough, and most of the melodies are good enough to stick in your head. Comparing the album to the debut, it seems to me that that album was more delicate, less rocking. I guess if you like the rockier, less symphonic side of Spock's Beard, the compact side of Porcupine Tree, or a band like King's X, then Agent Cooper might be a pleasant and highly energetic surprise, which keeps the best three songs for last.