SOUNDS OF PASSION

I am overwhelmed by nostalgic memories while reading the infomation booklet of this special edition 2-CD set. Some of the persons who are mentioned I knew personally in those days like Peter Van Der Laan (narrator in Prologue and in the late Seventies the #1 Dutch symphomaniac, he introduced me to the Prog Andaluz by playing LP's from Triana ) and Ton Strik, author of the Coda story, I knew him from the Sym-Info magazine and he also traded in 'rare live records'. And in the Nineties I interviewed keyboardplayer Erik De Vroomen because of a 'vintage keyboard special', what an unique personality! Thanks to Wim Van Putten his "LP And CD Show" (broadcasted on the national Dutch radio, its was very popular among Dutch progheads), in which Ton Strik delivered demo-tapes of Sounds Of Passion, a Dutch record company invited Coda to record Sounds Of Passion and in 1986 the LP was released. The first two pressings were sold out very soon and in 1996 the LP was re-released as a CD in 1996 by SI Music, in the same year labels in Holland (Transmission), in Korea and Japan also released Sounds Of Passion as a CD reissue. And late 2007 the Dutch label Pseudonym (same owner as Transmission) has decided to present Sounds Of Passion as a luxurous 2-CD set, including a very informative booklet with lots of pictures and interesting facts.

This '21st Anniversary Edition' contains two CD's: Chapter 1 - Sounds Of Passion: The Album and Chapter 2 - Sounds Of Passion: The Demos.

I was pleasantly surprised while listening to the titletrack of Sounds Of Passion for the first time in 15 years, in my memory it sounded "no more or less than nice" but I have to say that the music is on a very decent level, no Kayak or Finch but Coda has succeeded to sound quite original and I am delighted about the lush vintage keyboard sound and the varied climates. The titletrack (five parts, recorded in 1983) starts with Prologue featuring a bit pathetic vocal contribution by Peter Van Der Laan. Every of the four following parts contains its unique musical climate: wonderful vintage keyboards (like Hammond, clavinet and Grand piano) and fiery guitar runs in 1st Movement, a mellow mix of percussion and keyboards (beautiful Mellotron sounds) and pleasant guitar with volume pedal (like Steve Hackett) in 2nd Movement, sparkling flute and Grand piano and lush symphonic prog elements like the Moog Taurus bass pedals and choir-Mellotron in 3rd Movement and a splendid grand finale in the 24-carat symphonic prog tradition in 4th Movement: first a choir and church-organ, then a slow rhythm with howling guitar , followed by wonderful interplay between vintage keyboards (from Mellotron to church-organ) and delicate guitarwork, a great final part and Coda at its best! Listening to Chapter 2 I got impressed by the early demo version of the titletrack, to me it even sounds more exciting and compelling than the studio version, an excellent extra on this 2-CD set! The other 7 bonustracks (strong guitar and keyboards in True Melody) are also recorded in 1983, including What A Symphony Part 1 (intense violin-Mellotron like early King Crimson) and Part 2 (I love those Mellotrons and Moog Taurus bass pedals), tracks that appeared on the CD What A Symphony in 1996, the eagerly awaited successor of Sounds Of Passion. I have to admit that while listening to this 2-CD set I have underrated the album Sounds Of Passion since its release in 1986, 21 years later my conclusion is that it fully deserves a part in Dutch progrock history, well done fellow Dutchmen!

During my 3 weeks break on Prog Archives I have decided to leave Prog Archives so this is my final review. The main reason is that I cannot motivate myself any longer on a site that turned from a genuine progressive rock site into a kind of Pandora's Box of prog music and prog-related bands. I would like to thank you for your kind words about my reviews and for your enthousiastic posts in my threads, good luck fellow symphomaniacs!

My rating: CD-1 3 stars, CD-2 3,5 stars.