(Progressive rock/PF style) Preacher - Signals (CD 2015) (web released in 2014), FLAC (image+.cue+artwork), lossless

- Martin Murphy / Vocals, Guitar
- Arnie Burgoyne / Keyboards
- Greg Murphy / Lead Guitar
- Iain Duncan / Drums
- Gordon Munro / Bass
- Ron Rodgers / Acoustic Guitar
- Angela Bell / Backing Vocals
- Kerry WcWhinnie / Backing Vocals
Music & Lyrics by Martin Murphy
All songs produced, engineered, mixed and mastered by Larry Primrose.

Whilst this is their debut album, the members of Ayrshire based Preacher are all seasoned musicians with plenty of experience under their belts; consequently they have produced a fine album of ten strong, listenable and entertaining songs that will appeal to a wide range of Fireworks readers, but particularly those with a Prog leaning.
Having done a bit of research before listening to the album, I wasn’t sure what to expect as what I was reading seemed to be contradictory and suggested a Blues style; but a far closer comparison would be that of Pink Floyd. Guitarist Greg Murphy claims one of his influences to be Dave Gilmour and that shows through in his playing where mainly he allows the music to breath rather than cramming in too many notes. ‘Cry For Help’ is a case in point where the organ playing of Arnie Burgoyne is also redolent of Floyd.
Vocalist and main song-writer Martin Murphy has an interesting voice, in a good way, and at various times brings Fish, Alex Harvey, David Bowie and Jon Oliva to mind, particularly on the title track where the verses have a Bowie feel and the choruses could be from a Savatage album. There’s someone else he reminds me of from way back but I can’t drag the name from my memory. Apparently this track has been plagiarised in Germany and the band is pursuing legal action.
‘Arrival’ is a fine instrumental which has a bouncy initial refrain that makes me think of a TV theme before it slows for a delightfully mellow guitar passage not unlike those produced by Andy Latimer (Camel). ‘First Contact’ has more of that Floyd-like organ wash during its intro before the arrival of the vocals heralds a change of pace and style.
‘Friends Of My Dreams’ closes the album and is one of the heavier numbers but still melody is the key; it seems the album gets Progressively heavier. Opening song ‘Time’ has a lovely piano intro and a Floyd feel to the chorus and laid back verses. ‘Jupiter’ follows a similar orbit with a fine piano refrain and a vocal line that’s burrowed into my brain.
Acoustic guitar and piano usher in ‘The Sea’ with Murphy’s guitar embellishments being perfection as is the solo where Gilmour is the reference point. I’m not sure I understand the lyrics to ‘Fat Cats’ (“Fat cats sat on the fat mats”) but it’s still a good song. The use of female backing vocals on various tracks enhances the Floyd comparison.
An album well worth investigating, particularly if you like any of the artists I’ve mentioned or the likes of Riversea and Freedom To Glide.

Exact Audio Copy V1.1 from 23. June 2015
EAC extraction logfile from 17. September 2015, 20:17
Preacher / Signals
Used drive  : TEAC    CD-W516EB   Adapter: 1  ID: 1
Read mode               : Secure
Utilize accurate stream : Yes
Defeat audio cache      : Yes
Make use of C2 pointers : No
Read offset correction                      : 685
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out          : No
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks   : No
Null samples used in CRC calculations       : Yes
Used interface                              : Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000
Used output format              : User Defined Encoder
Selected bitrate                : 1024 kBit/s
Quality                         : High
Add ID3 tag                     : Yes
Command line compressor         : C:\Program Files (x86)\FLAC_1.3.1\win64\flac.exe
Additional command line options : -6 -V -T "ARTIST=%artist%" -T "TITLE=%title%" -T "ALBUM=%albumtitle%" -T "DATE=%year%" -T "TRACKNUMBER=%tracknr%" -T "GENRE=%genre%" -T "COMMENT=ripped by wurensh for rutracker.org" %source% -o %dest%
TOC of the extracted CD
     Track |   Start  |  Length  | Start sector | End sector
    ---------------------------------------------------------
        1  |  0:00.00 |  3:54.19 |         0    |    17568
        2  |  3:54.19 |  5:31.45 |     17569    |    42438
        3  |  9:25.64 |  5:20.45 |     42439    |    66483
        4  | 14:46.34 |  4:28.28 |     66484    |    86611
        5  | 19:14.62 |  3:38.61 |     86612    |   103022
        6  | 22:53.48 |  5:54.46 |    103023    |   129618
        7  | 28:48.19 |  6:58.20 |    129619    |   160988
        8  | 35:46.39 |  4:13.33 |    160989    |   179996
        9  | 39:59.72 |  4:57.73 |    179997    |   202344
       10  | 44:57.70 |  4:00.16 |    202345    |   220360
       11  | 48:58.11 |  4:02.54 |    220361    |   238564
       12  | 53:00.65 |  4:34.12 |    238565    |   259126
Range status and errors
Selected range
     Filename Y:\EAC\wurensh\Preacher\Preacher - Signals.wav
     Peak level 100.0 %
     Extraction speed 7.6 X
     Range quality 100.0 %
     Test CRC FB1D1FF9
     Copy CRC FB1D1FF9
     Copy OK
No errors occurred
AccurateRip summary
Track  1  not present in database
Track  2  not present in database
Track  3  not present in database
Track  4  not present in database
Track  5  not present in database
Track  6  not present in database
Track  7  not present in database
Track  8  not present in database
Track  9  not present in database
Track 10  not present in database
Track 11  not present in database
Track 12  not present in database
None of the tracks are present in the AccurateRip database
End of status report
---- CUETools DB Plugin V2.1.6
[CTDB TOCID: TDbwBFjhirh.dbrpOaZbS9zHHRA-] disk not present in database
Submit result: TDbwBFjhirh.dbrpOaZbS9zHHRA- has been uploaded
==== Log checksum 4AFB1C61573C768B9DC8B914FAEB6C4CB7138C7CCE122E6DBBA2DC9A05D0D06B ====

REM GENRE "Progressive Rock"
REM DATE 2014
REM DISCID AC0D7F0C
REM COMMENT "ExactAudioCopy v1.1"
PERFORMER "Preacher"
TITLE "Signals"
FILE "Preacher - Signals.flac" WAVE
  TRACK 01 AUDIO
    TITLE "Time"
    PERFORMER "Preacher"
    INDEX 01 00:00:00
  TRACK 02 AUDIO
    TITLE "Jupiter To Mars"
    PERFORMER "Preacher"
    INDEX 00 03:52:19
    INDEX 01 03:54:19
  TRACK 03 AUDIO
    TITLE "The Sea"
    PERFORMER "Preacher"
    INDEX 00 09:23:64
    INDEX 01 09:25:64
  TRACK 04 AUDIO
    TITLE "Fat Cats"
    PERFORMER "Preacher"
    INDEX 00 14:44:34
    INDEX 01 14:46:34
  TRACK 05 AUDIO
    TITLE "Cry 4 Help"
    PERFORMER "Preacher"
    INDEX 00 19:12:62
    INDEX 01 19:14:62
  TRACK 06 AUDIO
    TITLE "Signals"
    PERFORMER "Preacher"
    INDEX 00 22:51:48
    INDEX 01 22:53:48
  TRACK 07 AUDIO
    TITLE "Arrival"
    PERFORMER "Preacher"
    INDEX 00 28:46:19
    INDEX 01 28:48:19
  TRACK 08 AUDIO
    TITLE "First Contact"
    PERFORMER "Preacher"
    INDEX 00 35:44:39
    INDEX 01 35:46:39
  TRACK 09 AUDIO
    TITLE "The Factor"
    PERFORMER "Preacher"
    INDEX 00 39:57:72
    INDEX 01 39:59:72
  TRACK 10 AUDIO
    TITLE "Friends Of My Dreams"
    PERFORMER "Preacher"
    INDEX 00 44:55:70
    INDEX 01 44:57:70
  TRACK 11 AUDIO
    TITLE "Destiny"
    PERFORMER "Preacher"
    INDEX 00 48:56:11
    INDEX 01 48:58:11
  TRACK 12 AUDIO
    TITLE "I'll Be There"
    PERFORMER "Preacher"
    INDEX 00 52:58:65
    INDEX 01 53:00:65

foobar2000 1.3.8 / Dynamic Range Meter 1.1.1
log date: 2016-01-29 21:58:09
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Analyzed: Preacher / Signals
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR         Peak         RMS     Duration Track
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DR5       -0.50 dB    -8.57 dB      3:54 01-Time
DR3       -0.50 dB    -6.69 dB      5:32 02-Jupiter To Mars
DR4       -0.50 dB    -6.80 dB      5:21 03-The Sea
DR3       -0.50 dB    -6.92 dB      4:28 04-Fat Cats
DR5       -0.50 dB    -8.57 dB      3:39 05-Cry 4 Help
DR3       -0.50 dB    -7.07 dB      5:55 06-Signals
DR5       -0.50 dB    -9.16 dB      6:58 07-Arrival
DR3       -0.50 dB    -6.47 dB      4:13 08-First Contact
DR4       -0.49 dB    -7.20 dB      4:58 09-The Factor
DR4       -0.50 dB    -5.80 dB      4:00 10-Friends Of My Dreams
DR3       -0.50 dB    -7.31 dB      4:03 11-Destiny
DR4        0.00 dB    -8.14 dB      4:34 12-I'll Be There
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Number of tracks:  12
Official DR value: DR4
Samplerate:        44100 Hz
Channels:          2
Bits per sample:   16
Bitrate:           939 kbps
Codec:             FLAC
================================================================================

[CUETools log; Date: 29.01.2016 21:59:35; Version: 2.1.5]
[CTDB TOCID: TDbwBFjhirh.dbrpOaZbS9zHHRA-] found.
Track | CTDB Status
  1   | (1/1) Accurately ripped
  2   | (1/1) Accurately ripped
  3   | (1/1) Accurately ripped
  4   | (1/1) Accurately ripped
  5   | (1/1) Accurately ripped
  6   | (1/1) Accurately ripped
  7   | (1/1) Accurately ripped
  8   | (1/1) Accurately ripped
  9   | (1/1) Accurately ripped
 10   | (1/1) Accurately ripped
 11   | (1/1) Accurately ripped
 12   | (1/1) Accurately ripped
[AccurateRip ID: 001a0c7a-00f3bd1c-ac0d7f0c] found.
Track   [  CRC   |   V2   ] Status
 01     [f3c74c2b|5a8b2b9a] (0+1/1) Accurately ripped
 02     [7820fd8e|606c69b7] (0+1/1) Accurately ripped
 03     [181ddac5|ea0084bb] (0+1/1) Accurately ripped
 04     [5095c887|b544e268] (0+1/1) Accurately ripped
 05     [b01c9f95|63de26f7] (0+1/1) Accurately ripped
 06     [9a05a4b5|f083d623] (0+1/1) Accurately ripped
 07     [2a3b8f13|b59348ef] (0+1/1) Accurately ripped
 08     [01bba933|486def95] (0+1/1) Accurately ripped
 09     [b26417bc|cd3f58f5] (0+1/1) Accurately ripped
 10     [2a08b945|084b2308] (0+1/1) Accurately ripped
 11     [bc8bf772|8a1553d3] (0+1/1) Accurately ripped
 12     [6e068b8c|0ba492fb] (0+1/1) Accurately ripped
Track Peak [ CRC32  ] [W/O NULL] [  LOG   ]
 --  100,0 [FB1D1FF9] [27F8F19B]   CRC32
 01   94,4 [59E1D3CF] [9A7CE0AB]
 02   94,4 [B2EE90D1] [70D1A133]
 03   94,4 [C3CBADE9] [E0E2AF0C]
 04   94,4 [61FDB8CE] [6A90D3AD]
 05   94,4 [44FCC140] [5D377C14]
 06   94,4 [A580F53F] [3D404388]
 07   94,4 [9415040B] [1D0267E4]
 08   94,4 [10705EB0] [579EA386]
 09   94,4 [99BB0E70] [17C9F307]
 10   94,4 [4D991CF0] [34BF2A47]
 11   94,4 [D7DF9F6D] [E8541828]
 12  100,0 [4CC91308] [A48E92BA]