I think that is reflected in Door One, as well, since it is something of a departure from David’s normal style. There’s No Ghost Like An Old Ghost” is next, kicking off with Jeremy Stacey’s drums, a highlight of many tracks on this album. With that husky, timeless tone of his, David Longdon appeals to us to heed the words: ‘ Love is the only thing that matters, Love is all, love is all. It’s a high bar, but that album is the closest relative of Door One, his second solo release after 2004’s Wild River. The Big Big Train gig I attended in Edinburgh in 2019 will always be etched in my mind as one of the stand out concerts and performances I’ve ever been to, irrespective of how things ended up turning out – and it’s that, plus my love of the music he was a major part of creating with BBT, and the kinship that the music invokes in fans, that makes his passing a painful one.

I said earlier this track “should be a standard” – what I mean by that is that I could easily hear this song being interpreted by any number of singers (certainly those outside of the rock / prog tradition! It’s a good thing to know that this album was 95% complete at the time of David’s passing and so what we are hearing is pretty much his complete vision for this set of songs.And perhaps here it’s hardest to separate Door One – with all its heart, soul, love, vitriol, humour and wisdom – from its sad, posthumous circumstances. Perhaps surprisingly for an album made by someone known mainly as a Lead Singer, the album opens with an atmospheric instrumental – and that’s absolutely as it should be; because David’s talents were much broader than that of a frontman. The final track, Love Is All, is a far gentler piece as David exorts us that love is all that matters and, indeed, it does matter and if you find it then work hard for it, treasure and guard it as love is precious and vital to us all.

Following on from the themes of relationships ending, this song is about “what to hang on to, and what to let go”. The 103 third parties who use cookies on this service do so for their purposes of displaying and measuring personalized ads, generating audience insights, and developing and improving products. Along with the John Barry orchestral trappings, this irresistible slice of art-pop has an earworm three-chord central hook, and another eye-watering vocal climax.David was a massively creative force of nature when it came to music, and I hope that he would have been happy with the choices that we made . This is a must download for every prog rock fan and thank you for releasing this album in 24/96, it sounds magnificent!