NIGHT DREAMS & WISHES

Vlad Gorashchenko is back with another ride into the wild world of his own imagination and this time he has upped his game BIGLY! Production values, compositional and melodic sophistication, sound and engineering qualities have all improved dramatically! After the over-inflated reaction to the previous album, I was ready to skip this one--in the expectation of "more of the same" but, I am so glad I didn't! This one really is worth checking out, all you katzenjammers! Especially if you appreciate complex, layered symphonic prog in the vein of THE PSYCHEDELIC ENSEMBLE, Arjen Lucassen's multifarious projects, the Colossus/Musea retro prog themed projects, and even Devvy Townsend's Ziltoid the Omniscient.

1. "Intro" (3:01) a beautiful multi-instrument intro to the album, with lush key washes supporting the inputs contributions of many solo instrumental "voices." Nice start! (5/5)

2. "Overture" (5:52) introduces several of the melodic themes that recur over the course of this 78-minute suite, including one that replicates Roye Albrighton's gorgeous main theme from "Always," a song from the 2004 NEKTAR album, Evolution, and another that sounds like it comes from ELP's Tarkus. It really is an overture! (9.5/10)

3. "Night Comes - Dreams" (11:09) nice co-opting of familiar sounds. (17.5/20): - "Night's Creeping in Town" - classical guitar with synth wash backgrounds and flute give this a very STEVE HACKETT sound. - "Morpheus the God of Night Dreams" - Fretless bass and a switch to steel-string guitar changes things. As Vladimir (or Alexander Kotov?) begins to sing I feel as if I am in the land of THE FLOWER KINGS. Even the two different background singers, first male and then female, do little to change this impression. Fender Rhodes finishes in the lead. - "First Voyage with Morpheus" - echo effects give the new sound an aqueous feel--like JOHN MARTYN with his Echoplex guitar. "Second Voyage with Morpheus" - At the 6:40 mark the electric guitar establishes a nice muted strum pattern which supports flute, acoustic guitar picking, and sustained reverse guitar soloing (á la Mr. Fripp in the Eno days). - "Third Voyage with Morpheus" - at 8:45 a new palette still based in the Echoplex percussive strumming ushers in two competing soloing saxophones along with bass and, eventually, full drums and screaming DAVID GILMOUR The Wall-sound guitar solo.

4. "Barocco Scherzo - Fourth Voyage with Morpheus" (2:03) recorder and second flute with church organ. Nice mediæval sound to it--even the melody. (4.5/5)

5. "Childhood & School Days" (11:31) (16.5/20): - "The Gang of Young Roosters" - opens with a little cacophonous chaos--like a school playground. What comes out of it is quite NEXUS-like--keys, prominent bass and drums, wailing electric guitars, and Hammond organ. - "Nostalgia for Childhood" - solo piano opens this section in a PSYCHIC EQUALIZER-like way--very emotional melody lines--joined by Mellotron, whistling, and blues COLIN TENCH-lke electric guitar in the fourth minute. Nostalgic is the truth! - "Childhood" - electrified acoustic guitar with voices reciting a nursery rhyme before transverse flute takes the lead--into kind of an IAN ANDERSON direction. - "Time Runs Ahead" - Music picks up with full band for a very short spell before - "Mother's Lullaby" - settling back into original form. - "School Days" - opens with heavily beaten toms, saw-synth, full band and aggressive vocal singing about "school days." Soloing saxophone is used to fill between vocal verses & choruses. Nice EMERSONian synth solo in the second half of the ninth minute before song moves into a more jazzy dreamy section with Aarp and bass soloing. The vocals here are a bit weak--or, rather, unfitting.

- "Time Runs Ahead" - THE PSYCHEDELIC ENSEMBLE-like - "First Love" - brief innocuous finish.

6. "Insomnia" (3:44) sounds like the Canterbury-esque music used beneath the story-telling of Gilli Smyth in MOTHER GONG's Fairy Tales only without the vocals. (8.75/10)

7. "Dark Kingdom & The Evil King, Part 1" (7:38) very good conveyor of drama. (13.75/15): - "Dark Kingdom" - symphonic THE PSYCHEDELIC ENSEMBLE-like with loads of drama in the music. - "The Ball in the Dark Kingdom" - an instrumental section that opens full on JETHRO TULL before shifting a little beneath the flute. - "The Evil King" - bombastic church organ with background electric guitars screaming, this sounds quite a little like DANNY ELFMAN's Nightmare Before Christmas soundtrack. It's effective. - "Evil is Spreading Around" - great guitar solo, the best section of the song. - "Life of the Poor People" - solo classical guitar, Steve Hackett-like, then brief harpsichord before finishing with finger-picking guitar and flute.

8. "Dark Kingdom & The Evil King, Part 2" (11:19) great story telling with just titles and instrumental music (19.25/20): - "Despair, Fear & Hesitations" - more TPE--even the melodies! - "Uprising" - ELP all the way! Great! - "First Battles and Small Victories" - OUTSTANDING section! Awesome keys and truly outstanding electric guitar soloing. Really captures the action and emotion. - "The Main Battle: a) We are Winning!? b) Trapped by the King's Troops c) King's Troops are Surrounding and Defeating the Rebels" - sounds like a section of NEXUS' epic contribution to Odyssey: The Greatest Tale plus more great electric guitar soloing. - "Revenge of the Evil King" - presents a voice narration and music not unlike Devvy's Ziltoid - "Rebels - Prisoners and Slaves" - contains more voice narration and music similar to Devin Townsend's Ziltoid the Omniscient.

9. "Dark Kingdom & The Evil King, Part 3" (9:30) a little too scattered and disjointed (17/20): - "Gladiators (Fight, 2ND Uprising and the Victory)" - opens with circus-like narration and fanfare before more music in drama like TPE, Odyssey, and even Arjun Lucassen - "Hymn to Freedom" - continues before going church organ and solo convent voice - "Gladiator's Feast" - TPE all the way

10. "Wake Up" at (5:42), thanks to morning birdsong!

Wow, do I think I'm hearing THE FLOWER KINGS circa 1999-2000! Beautiful song with gorgeous melodies throughout! Even a fretless bass! Great use of synths and choral bank background vocals. Maybe a little too close to TFK's "I Am The Sun, Part 2"?? But, still, this is as near to a perfect song as it gets! (10/10)

11. "Final / Outre" (6:27) in effect, this song opens as a continuation or variation on the previous song, but then bursts into full prog bombast around 1:15 whereupon many of the earlier themes are recapitulated. (9/10)

Total Time 77:56

4.5 stars; a near-masterpiece of progressive rock music--hindered only by the disorder and inconsistency of the first two epics ("Night Comes - Dreams" and "Childhood & School Days") and several motifs that feel a bit over-familiar. Still: Highly recommended! A really wonderful musical rendering of a literary storyline. Vladimir Gorashchenko takes a huge step forward in terms of sound, performance and engineering quality as well as gifting us some really beautiful, memorable music!