Reviewed by Mike Rimmer

Joey Belville's band "The Echoing Green have a problem". No one knows what to do with them. Despite the rumours, they're not actually a "dance" act in the true sense of the genre though there are strong elements of dance in what they do. With Joey's love of '80s music, you get the feeling he'd rather be Duran Duran - a pop rock band you can dance to! He's recently chosen to leave Five Minute Walk and work once again as an independent and this first release "Glimmer Of Hope" was recorded at the American Tom Fest in 1998. It acts as a snapshot of the best of his recent songs caught in the nervous white light of a live show. Whether it's the joyful exuberance of "The Power Cosmos" or the straight forward groove of "Empath" and new tune "Defender", The Echoing Green know how to boogie. Changing the vibe a little Jyro Xian from Fold Zandura makes a guest appearance to sing on the song of refuge in Christ - "Hide" and Joey introduces rapper Danmeal to add a fun fast-paced rap routine to "Freak Out" and get the crowd interacting. At their best when they're abandoned and pumping out something like "Face Of God" or going all moody with "Oxygen", you wonder whey they're not huge. No studio trickery has been employed to make this sound perfect so this is a warts and everything recording. Occasionally there are blemishes which make this more of a well recorded bootleg with plenty of atmosphere. 

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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