MOONSHINE

Vocals have switched from Polish to English but I wouldn't even enter in this debate. It was the band's choice, period.

The opening track is highly emotional and features one of the most beautiful harmony I can think of. Some might say "too easy", or "too predictable", I just believe it is full of passion and the instrumental parts (mainly keyboards) are just gorgeous. Neo symphonic prog. A new sub-genre maybe? Anyway, "Heroes Cry" is an excellent song. My favourite from this album.

The band was maybe willing to comfort the idea that they were able to produce more constructed songs, but the long (over fourteen minutes) "In Your Eyes" is maybe not the best exercise of "Collage". A bit thin and maybe too much "Genesis" oriented. Especially during a great but too resembling Hackett guitar solo. But this similarity is the essence of this genre, so. The bombastic keyboards also have a feeling of being heard before (hi Tony). A good song but no more.

The average "Lovely Day" which is a mellow and little consistent track, the first weak one from this album. Actually, the band seems to have some difficulties to reproduce such a great number as "Heroes Cry".

Several songs are almost symphonic, and "Living in the Moonlight" is another fine song with a nice melody but a very emotional guitar break is the definite highlight of this good song. Excellent work from Mirek Gil.

"The Blues" seems to come out from an "IQ" album (especially during the instrumental intro). Another OK song which is brilliantly concluded by our dear friend Mirek (once again). He is such a great guitar player. But, still: a seven minutes song should hold more than just a short guitar break to highlight it.

"Wings In The Night" is another "neo-symphonic" song featuring lots of splendid guitar moments and a fine melodic line. At this time of the album, one thing is for sure. The big man here is Mirek. He is virtually holding the album on his shoulders. Without him, this would have been just another record.

Actually, after their excellent debut and the rave reviews that I could read here, I was expecting some more from this album. As a comparison, I liked the work of their fellow countrymen "Abraxas" a lot better (especially their album "Centurie"). But Collage came first of course and probably opened the way to many Polish bands.

"Moonshine" (the album) is probably too long (almost seventy minutes). Even if the band hadn't recorded any new material since 1990, it sounds as if they didn't have enough inspiration to hold this length. These long songs can't captivate me from start to finish. Great during instants, but not holding the quality throughout their length.

The title track is no other. Thirteen minutes with little depth. The more I listen to this album, the more I discover its weaknesses. During my first listening some three years ago, I rated it with five stars, then four.

I can hardly consider this work as a masterpiece and my final rating is three stars. A good album, with ONE great song.

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