Hello, ProgArchivists! I urge you to give a listen to a real gem of an album: Mad Crayon’s Preda (2009). An AMAZINGLY well engineered/produced RPI album that contains music from so many different influences—blues, jazz, funk, lounge, R&B, heavy prog, symphonic, rock, pop, eclectic, and, of course, RPI. A virtual cornucopia of styles and sounds. Inside I hear similarities to Retrospective, Tony Levin projects, Uriah Heep, PFM, 70’s/80’s jazz fusion, XII Alfonso, Xang, Ozric Tentacles, and, especially, in the first half, Riverside. The album contains OUTSTANDING sound, mix, musicianship (piano/keys, fretless and synthesized basses, drums, acoustic & electric guitars), lead and harmonizing vocals, composition and structure. 

Not knowing much Italian, I am unable to comment on the lyrical content, but I so enjoy hearing musicians sing in their own native tongue.

I seriously think that this surprisingly overlooked collection of songs may be one of the best albums to have been released in the past 30 years! Seriously! If you haven’t heard this album I really think you have missed—must I say it: a prog masterpiece! (See my detailed review on this site.)