SHE

Having a cousin with undefined musical taste and a lot of money is one of the greatest lucks, he always asks me which albums are new and simply buys all, normally likes them but sometimes doesn't, so this few albums end in my hands for a cheap price.

A couple months ago he asked me for a good Neo Prog band and after I mentioned PENDRAGON, he bought all the albums (which he liked) and also the complete CAAMORA collection, which he liked except "She" being he's not fan of the opera, so for 10 bucks, got the complete set with disks and DVD.

From the first listen loved the pompous CD's which I have already reviewed but even more the spectacular DVD, it's obvious that "Clive Nolan" has much more talent as a composer than I ever thought so he created this opera (Closer to the German style of the rather than the Italian) for Agnieszka Swita's glory.

What can I say about Agnieszka? Her voice is spectacular and obviously educated, even when a bit cold, but the show is stolen by the natural charm and sympathy of Christina Booth from Magenta, her warmer style and amazing vocal range captivates the listener from the first instant. Doesn't matter if she looks tiny standing beside the much taller Agnieszka, the charisma of Christina shadows everybody.

The same happens with Clive, who despite not being a singer (We all know he's a keyboard wizard) does a very good job and would be a greater surprise if Alan Reed wasn't such a great frontman, who makes evident the differences between a professional vocalist as him and a great keyboardist who also sings as Clive.

The band is also in great level but Scott Higham from PENDRAGON is even better, always accurate, like a human metronome, strong when required and soft when the vocalists sing so they can be listened with no effort. The mini orchestra is also very strong but I can just wonder how this ambitious project would have sounded with a full Symphony orchestra.

Won't talk about the music because I have done it in the review of the CD, so the emphasis of the DVD must be based in the whole concept and the spectacular setting, that according to Clive in the bonus interview was really expensive, I just hope he gets enough financial success to make it even bigger, because this is a real opera for a new Millennium.

Enjoyed the show from start to end and I believe that deserves no less than 4 solid stars, if you are an old fashioned Proghead who like his music pompous and elaborate, this is something you must get