Pictures of Nature (April, 11, 2009)With «Pictures of Nature» Tom Kelly’s Music Factory is taking a completely new and yet another experimental path in his creative work. Already in the first track, «The Story from the Golden Eagle», one senses that with this album Tom Kelly’s Music Factory has undergone an extensive musical development. Compared to its predecessors – «Sciopadroxiu», «Nights & Pearls» and «Leaving the Past» – «Pictures of Nature» is more traditional, influenced by West-Coast, Southern Rock and Country Music, entwined with elements of Chill-out and Electro-Music of modern musical trends. An interesting mixture of music that is – once again – difficult to classify.But, considering the whole opera, «Pictures of Nature» is clearly to identify as a review on the late sixties and early seventies: Tracks such as «Windmill Road» recall, in its basic tenor, songs from Barry White or Stevie Wonder, others, such as «Into the Box» are clearly influenced by the works of country musicians and Singer-Songwriters. Furthermore, the musical range in this album, as in all the preceding albums, is enormous. Hardly any of the songs can really be classified or be put into one clearly defined genre, not even the ballads «Dancing Dolphins», «7 Steps from the Coast», «Encourage» and «Proud & Beautiful»; the last of which shows an explicit Latin influence. «Encourage» is dedicated to Mata Hari and commemorates another woman’s life drama – as on the last album the doom of Anna Göldi –, the murderer of the presumably biggest female spy ever. On the whole, this album, in its spirit and in the choice of the track titles, has an even more political impact than its predecessors.«Song from the Elder» reclines on the rustic but great simplicity of songs of «The Band», and «Land of Nowhere» connects good back to the roots blues rock with modern music elements, which is also true for the last official song of the album, «Mustang ’67». «Pictures of Nature» should be, after «Leaving the Past», a synonym of the good and the beauty in our world, and it reflects in a almost classical way the sound and the colorful music variety that characterizes the whole opera of Tom Kelly’s Music Factory.Last but not least there’s «Children’s Anthem», which should not be taken as a bonus track but which is meant as a admonishment to the fact that we’ve only just borrowed this world from our children and from their offspring.