Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

Alaska doesn’t produce a lot of rock musicians and especially ones with a progressive flair. Portugal. The Man produces an excellent record for their third effort, Censored Colors. Some people may have listened in the past and not liked the quirkiness of the band or maybe they didn’t like the fact that their name is actually two sentences. Whatever your nonsense reason, listen again. This band has grown into an all-out musical experience. These songs were written while being recorded. Who does that? Who does that and gets away with an excellent record!?

You can’t beat a good piano line throughout an album and it is showcased from the first track, Lay Me Back Down. The whole album sounds as if it was grabbed out of the late seventies and then re-mastered. There is not one song that is not expertly played, sung, and produced. And I could just as easily been conceived by Led Zeppelin. Salt dreamed by Emerson Lake & Palmer. Every song hits its note and the band makes each song become its own. They even keep true to their progressive roots by giving an odd intermission to break up the set leading into the more experimental half of the album.

Portugal. The Man has always given the world thoughtful and excellently played music. Censored Colors delivers itself wonderfully and doesn’t let up from the first second in originality and wonder. Portugal. The Man is a very defining statement for a band and Censored Colors lives up to such a statement. Who needs preparation? If they can put out an album like this one with little pre-recording work, they need to do it every time.

Must Listen: Colors and Lay Me Back Down
Deeper Enjoyment: 1989 and And I