DREAMER

I got this album thanks to Melo from Melo's prog bazaar. Anton gave permission that for some copies of this album the sale went to the "Hugh Hopper Fund" After a few listens you can recognize some influence by Genesis (Peter Gabriel era), Pink Floyd and a small touch of Pendragon and The Reasoning. For some reason i am good in picking up albums which aren't easy listening since that's really going for this album.

It's another album which you have to sit down with and listen and do that more then once because to me (and other people which reviews i have read on the net) it is a growing album. To be honest the first time i heard it i thought not that good about it and i tossed it on the pile "need another few tries" and to be really honest full credit goes to my wife for putting this album on many times since and slowly the album grew on me and now these days i like to hear it.

But still for some reason i miss something in the music. I still can't put my finger on what i mean with that. Maybe it's just that i miss an up-tempo tune in between these 8 tracks but truth be told that's a bit of nitpicking since those tracks that are on the album sound fresh, at times catchy and well produced.

Best tracks on the album to me are "On the afterglow" and "The spider".

On the afterglow gives us an acoustic opening with clear vocals, a strong Genesis resemblence, a wonderful guitar solo, at times a jazzy sounding keyboard and soprano vocals. Still with me after the last sentence? Easy stuff? No but to me this is what prog music is about.

The spider on the other hand has this jazzy piano again (for the Dutch readers it remembered me straight to "De familie Knots" tune where the narator talks about what happens inside the house). Also the track gives us a vocal style which is a Fish style of telling a story instead of really singing it. And again a lovely guitar solo pass by.

One track of album is not really my taste which is "Scary monsters". I don't know, it feels like Genesis, at times very catchy and has a David Gilmour style of guitar playing but nothing happens to me when hearing it.

So.a wonderful debut album with really good stuff on it. I certainly will follow Anton on his musical trip because i am quite enjoying myself when listening to it. Give it a couple of tries, you won't be disappointed.

Band:

Anton Roolaart - Vocals, guitar, keyboards, programming Rave Tesar - Keyboards Vincent Puryear - Bass Rich Berends - Drums on the tracks 1,34 & 7 Charles DesCarfino - Drums on the tracks 2,5,6 & 8

Guests:

Vito Vitale - Slide guitar on track 3 Alana Roolaart - Background vocal on track 2 Stephanie Malewski - Soprano vocals on track 2 Kayla Roolaart - Spoken part on track 8 Alice Hamlet - Cello on track 8 Schoolyard children sample used on track 8 by Cognito Perseptu

Tracks:

1. Near or far 2. On the afterglow 3. Dreamer 4. Scary monsters 5. Color of your world 6. Mid summer's day 7. Manon 8. The spider

Score 80/100