CROSSING THE LINE

Turkish band formed in Paris around mid-70's as Asia Minor Process by three Turkish emigrants, guitarist/flutist Erik Tekeli, guitarist/singer Setrak Bakirel and drummer Can Kozlu.In 1976 Kozlu was replaced by Lionel Beltrami, the name was shortened to Asia Minor and the band started recording its first tracks, mixing Classic Prog with some Turkish ethnic sounds.In three tracks the band was helped by Grime's keyboardist Nicolas Vicente.With no particular interest in their work by labels, Asia Minor self-released their debut ''Crossing the Line'' during the spring of 1979 on their own Ware of Asia Minor.More recently the album was re-issued in CD and vinyl formats by Musea Records.

A good album indeed, ''Crossing the Line'' is often an exciting mix of melodic Progressive Rock with a CAMEL-esque edge and the darker aspects of the style, somewhat in a KING CRIMSON vein and add some deep ethnic tunes here and there.The sound is led by the guitars and flutes with long instrumental parts and professional interplays between the two instruments in a Symphonic style.The rhythm section (with Bakirel providing the bass lines) is pretty dynamic with often deep bass lines and the great drumming of Beltrami.The keyboards remain unfortunately mostly in the background, having a very thin sound.However the dominant guitar and flute parts will reward you: nice melodic hooks, folky heavy flute drives and a nice amount of breaks and battles offer series of fascinating moments.Vocals are sung in English without signs of an annoying accent but also in Turkish in a couple of tracks, the later being outstanding Progressive Rock pieces.Only a couple of flaws are detected, the one being the aforementioned thin-sounding keyboards, the other being the mediocre production overall, an evident fail regarding many prog albums around late-70's.

''Crossing the Line'' is a pretty strong release of Classic Progressive Rock by a talented band, which failed to attract around the (wrong) period of its release, but ended up to be a winner through sands of time.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.