EGGROLL

When I added EGROLL to Prog Archives I did with great expectation, not only because the DVD they released (Which contained three cover tracks of Genesis, King Crimson and Jethro Tull plus two outstanding original songs) but mostly because the unreleased material which showed a great desire to create good Progressive Rock and the skills to do it, but their second release "Fairytales" was a real disappointment, the unique sound went God knows where.

Don't misunderstand me, the album is not bad, has some excellent moments but they seem to have lost the original and strong Symphonic sound they had on the two tracks of "Eggroll Live Progressive Act" and the unreleased material that I got by courtesy of the band and Raya Kosovsky who promoted many groups from Israel in her site.

The first problem I find is that the fabulous flute player Naama Shalev apparently left the band, but the rest of the members haven't changed. Lior Seker's voice remains as strong as ever but this time the role of the talented Lior Talmor in the keyboards seems left in a second plane, a great loss in both cases.

The material is oriented towards some form of light Prog mixed with an obvious Beatles influence, a touch of Radiohead and some Hard Rock but clearly they have chosen to keep closer to the safety of mainstream rather than in the risky but imaginative and original Prog, despite this facts, the quality is still there and I really hope this was only an accident or a step in their career.

I don't want to review every song as I usually do because I don't want to be hard with a band from who I still expect a lot, so I will talk about the tracks that impressed me more.

"Source of Light" starts as a soft ballad influenced by The Beatles, the piano and vocals are really good as usual, as they did in the opening of their DVD (Theme Song/Out in the Dark) turns into some sort of power ballad even when with less strength than in the previous release, good melody and still some echoes of the original style.

"Save my World" starts as an acoustic guitar ballad and when the rest of the band joins the sound is really good, melodic but strong, probably the closer they get to Prog. What I want to emphasize is the dramatic mood that reminds me a bit of Camel but darker, very strong track and impeccable vocal work.

Even when different "Must be Something" is a powerful song, Lior Seker does a very good work with Hard Rock oriented tracks and again Talmor does an outstanding job with piano and organ, but the power of the track lies in the strong guitar work and Gil Idan drums, songs as this one makes me still believe in them.

Now is the turn to comment the title song, "Fairytale" which starts with a beautiful acoustic guitar and a soft violin (Don't know if it's synthesized, but who cares, it's excellent), a folksy tune that really relaxes and shows the musicianship of the band, nice track.

"Dead End" is another dramatic song (They do better with his kind of stuff) good vocal work and bass, reminds me a bit of "Red" era King Crimson with a Symphonic atmosphere, again they hit the nail right in the head, somebody tell this guys that light stuff is not for them, they should keep this mood.

"Highlands" is a good atmospheric instrumental, again darker and dramatic, the only problem is that the two minutes leaves the listener with the honey in the lips.

"Find a Way Back Home" is a very decent track but IMHO bad choice for a closer, melodic soft and well written, maybe too strong Beatles influence and too close to mainstream, still there's something that attracts me to this song like a guilty pleasure.

The other five tracks are not bad even when very uneven, some good moments but in general terms too bland for my taste.well seven out of twelve tracks is not bad at all if you are not familiar with the potential of this band.

I don't want to end this review without asking why did they changed the name of the band to "EGGROLL AND THE SHAKES"?. Sadly most of the information about the band is in Hebrew so my curiosity will remain unanswered.

Rating the album is not hard, it's clearly over the average but I expected much more, so will go with three stars but honestly hope they return to the sound of the early years.

If you are a fan of light Prog, this is your album, relaxing, calmed, good sound and musicianship, but something is missing, still I don't regret buying the album there's always a place for it in my CD player when in the mood of softer stuff.

Most bands start doing an EP or a CD, especially when they play cover versions, but EGGROLL love to make things the hard way, they dared to start their official career with a Live DVD, containing not only excellent original material, but also cover versions of Genesis, Jethro Tull and King Crimson tracks, but not just any song, they choose icons as Supper's Ready, Thick as a Brick and Starless.

One thing is to play this tracks in front of the audience, because people is drinking and having fun, so the audience will enjoy them anyway, another one is making a CD, this is much harder because any defect will remain for ever, but making a DVD recorded during live cover acts is almost a suicide, because they're assuming not only the risk to be compared in their performance but also in the stage show, something very hard for a band with limited economic resources.

But I must say that the DVD is excellent, Lior Seker has a very good voice, very close to Ian Anderson's range, but he works so well that can make an excellent version of Starless and a very acceptable one of Supper's Ready (hard for anybody). But let's go to the DVD.

Theme Song + Out of the Dark: Eggroll starts the DVD with one of their best songs, maybe one of the less complex, but clearly Prog' oriented, the star of the track is Lion Seker with his great voice and the perfect guitar work, sounds as some sort of Symphonic King Crimson meets Led Zeppelin, very strong opener.

The second song is the complex and original China, this one is absolutely Symphonic eliminating any doubt of their style, melodic but again with an evident King Crimson influence, the bass work by Dan Karpman (or Carpman, the name is different in the web page and the DVD) is absolutely solid. They should make more tracks as this one.

Now is the turn for nostalgic fans, EGGROLL does an outstanding version of Thick as a Brick, the perfect song for Seker's voice, and the extraordinaire skills of Naama Shalev on the flute. Maybe the accent of Lior is a bit strong, but who cares if his voice is so adequate.

Following with the covers is time for King Crimson's masterpiece Starless, to be honest I never was convinced by Fripp and his guys until I listened this track, the guitar and bass work by Lior Seker, Sagi Ahiel and Dan Karpman recreating the instrumental section is simply hallucinating, they took the risk and succeeded, another excellent track.

No cover session could be complete without Genesis, so EGGROLL does their version of Supper's Ready 2nd Section (Starting with Willow's Farm), well, it was a hard task and the beginning is weak, Lior is unable to make a convincing Gabriel's recreation, because nobody can joke with his voice as good old Pete.

I was a bit disappointed at this point, but then the instrumental section starts and it's like taking a time machine to the early 70's, Lior Talmor's keyboards are amazing, it's evident that the guy has solid musical formation and again Naama Shalev plays the sweetest flute I ever heard. I would be unfair if wouldn't mention the accurate drumming by Gil Idan, because despite his short stature, Phil Collins shoes could be to big for any drummer, but not for Gil who plays without any complex.

The closing section is again a bit weak because of he vocal work, something strange being that I listened a version of Dancing with the Moonlit Knight in which Lior does a great work.

The last track called Meet Eggroll is almost as an introduction of the band with fragments of their music which again is very solid, and dialogues that I honestly can't understand, If this DVD is going to reach the whole world (As EGGROLL deserves), they should translate this comments to English.

Des´pite the linguistic gap, the images are very explicit, because we can see how much this guys work, placing the posters (I proudly own one sent by Raya Kosovsky and the band) during the late night, when all people is sleeping.

Nice work guys, this is love for Prog!!!!!!.

Now comes the rating, hard task, the covers (or at least two of them) are impeccable, their original material is outstanding plus an excellent image and sound, but I believe they should include more original material, that deserves to be listened.

Four solid stars, maybe for their next work we can reach the complete 5 stars.