THE PARIS SYMPHONY

"The Paris Symphony" is in my opinion the weakest effort from this excellent Kursk-based band. It is obvious that Keith Emerson is some kind of role model for Gennady Ilyin, who doubtless is a very skilled musician - but when it comes to composition The Paris Symphony lacks the confidence of the bands later efforts and the distance to Keith Emerson is in this case obvious. It is however interesting to follow the bands progress; from this bud to later beautiful flowers and as such, this album deserve a three star rating. Gennady Ilyin is the main musician on this album - and he definitly know how to play his keyboards! All musicians on this album are good - and that is not the problem. No; the problem is rather that the music drowns in all keyboards. I however like the idea to make a concept out of the perceptions and and emotions related to Paris - and in some respect I would say that Gennady and co- musicians have succeeded. How about the music then? Basically it is very obvious that Gennady, who is the main composer, is classically trained both as concert pianist and as classical composer. On this album, he mixes quite gothic type organs with jazz, classical music and some rock - and he does it with a twist (I like the surprising "Paint it black" reference at the end of "Montmatre" - how on earth did that end up there?). The production could however been better. Don't get me wrong: I am a big fan of Little Tragedies - but I would rather (and highly) recommend their later albums, where the bud really have evolved into the most beautiful flower. I would give this album a 2.6 star rating.