Goodbye

Although originally receiving UK distribution some two years ago, Goodbye, Denver five-piece Czars' fifth studio album, has just recently seen a U.S. release. In the world of bells, whistles, builds and bangs, two years can often be enough to severely date an album; luckily, the complete flouting of convention employed by John Grant and his always-regal Czars is more than enough to keep things sounding fresh, powerful, and rife with eccentric beauty. Goodbye is an album laden with piano, yet not quite adult contemporary, filled with Midwest midnight crooning, but falling short of being labeled country, and populated with twisting movements within single tracks, though not to the extent that the term ''prog'' should be dropped so easily.