REFUGEE

Refugee

Symphonic Prog

4.15 | 278 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Easy Livin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin

One album wonders!

Sadly, the only album made by what was effectively The Nice with Swiss keyboards wizard Patrick Moraz replacing Keith Emerson (who had left for ELP).

What Refugee produced was a very well constructed and progressive album. The music bears only passing resemblance to the Emerson dominated work of the Nice, with much more of a democracy in evidence. This gives the album a noticeable balance.

Jackson's vocals will never win him any awards, but their gruffness seems right at home here, and in any case, much of the time his voice is not required. Moraz keyboard work is excellent, his familiar jazzy slurring on the synthesiser is predominant, similar to that which made "Relayer" so different from other Yes albums.

The tracks are split between three pretty straight forward pieces clocking in at around the five minutes, and two long structured pieces of pure prog. "Grand Canyon" does a good job of painting a picture of said wonder of the world, with lyrics such as "We'll swoop right up the canyon wall, then like an eagle down we'll falllll (descending echoes on the word "fall")", you get the idea! "Credo" is a slightly rougher more Nice like piece, with slightly jazzier keyboards.

It really is a pity the band did not remain together to develop their unique sound. Moraz went on to replace Rick Wakeman in Yes for the "Relayer" album, then had a spell in Moody Blues with who he recorded several albums.

The fan base was there for Refugee to exploit, but this was and apparently always will be a one off album. (If your searching for the LP version of the album, Beware of releases by another unrelated band bearing the same name.)

Easy Livin | 4/5 | 2004-5-6

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Share this REFUGEE review

Social review comments () BETA

Review related links

Send comments to Easy Livin
Report this review (#27781)
Buy REFUGEE music online with PA partners
Show all REFUGEE MP3/Stream
Go to REFUGEE page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
Go to Refugee page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
Search the Forum for REFUGEE related discussions