CROSSING THE DESERT

I'm a bit perplexed here. I read the reviews from many and I just do not understand the comparisons and criticisms. While this album is certainly not perfect, it is heads above so many "prog" albums that seem to rate so high that cannot hold a candle to the musicianship here. I do agree with what was mentioned by tszirmay in that this is best being played louder. Ther are so many details that require a closer listen and I stuck this on my headphones and was very impressed with the production. It is stereo but the entire spectrum was used.

I am not much of a neo-prog person. Coming from the late 60's and 70's music scenes I prefer symphonic prog and some of the harder edged stuff. Genesis (with Hackett), Yes, Rush (prog years), ELP, Camel (before Rain Dances) and Kansas first 5 albums are many of the ones I grew up on. Floyd is fine but I must be a weirdo thinking Dark Side is more pop and rock than prog. I'll take the instrumentation of Animals over that and the Wall is overrated and had far too much emphasis on lyrics. I am not so much a lyric person as I cannot understand what they are saying most of the time. I was raised on classical so instrumentation is really what attracts me the most to music so this album impressed me. You can have all the great lyrics in the world and mediocre instrumentation; that does not define talent. Drums, bass, keys and guitars would define what like most in a band.

I had never heard of Arakeen or Sylvain Gouvernaire. Marillion I certainly know but only like a few tracks here and there and many of their albums I just cannot get into. The reason I downloaded this album last year was because of Ian Mosely and Pete Trewavas being on it. I assumed they were part of the songwriting but that would be in error. Mosley is a great drummer with credentials going back to Steve Hackett and before. Hackett was very impressed with him even ranking him equally as good as Phil Collins and when he joined Marillion after Mick Pointer (poor fellow got sacked from his own creation) and they went through several drummers including Andy Ward (Camel), every instrumentalist in Marillion said that they all had to up their games to match his expertise and that included Pete Trewavas.

While I respect everyone's opinion, I cannot hear any similarity between this and Marillion. Marillion is tame and this is wild. Mosely and Trewavas sound little like they do in Marillion. Trewavas sounds more like he does in Transatlantic. They both had the brakes released on this, especially Mosely. Marillion does not put forth such radical complex instrumentation that I have heard at any time in their history. What I hear on this album is insane! The rhythm section here is tight and hard and pounds it out.

Another comparison I do not in any way understand is Sylvain Gouvernaire's guitar work. Steve Rothery has some emotional playing and there have been a few of his solos I like (EX: Hotel Hobbies-Clutching At Straws) but most of his playing is not that impressive to me. He has some of the Latimer / Gilmour feel and that has been clearly stated over the years when people analyze his style. Sylvian has some of that emotional playing and sounds a bit Gilmourish and maybe a touch of Latimer but this boy can shred it. Gilmour and Latimer are emotive players and neither are fast players. I found myself having to drop back in the middle of a few tracks as he lost me when he ripped into high gear like in the middle of Train De Vie which is one of the best tracks on the album and all 3 musicians rip on this one.

My first impression of this was their sound reminds me of Planet X (Moonbabies) in some ways on a few songs. I do like the atmospheric keyboards but what seems to really stand out here is Sylvain's guitar work.

I find some very interesting and original music on here and unlike so much predictable prog, I find myself surprised on many of the tracks on here. Some of it is definitely atmospheric stuff and that is okay to an extent. Memory Of Eagle is an example of that. Tap On Top has some great guitar and the rhythm was catchy. War starts out sounding like war documentary music and jumps into what sounds like old Camel before it moves into a more oriental sound and back. This song runs through several movements. Sylvain definitely had some great musical ideas he put together on this album. He paints some deep soundscapes.

Obsession is pure atmosphere. Crossing The Desert is a great track with so many twists and turns. My only complaint: Ocean Song ends the album and it was a let down. It would have been good to end it with a bang. It would have been great if these 3 had done another album. A 4 star??