LIVE 2011

My final purposeful excursion into the Neo-Prog band that was there from the start, Quasar.

"Seeing Stars" (5 minutes longer than the studio version off Fire in the Sky) heads off low and slow, but fairly big. I'm not big into his vocals; it is what it is. Things pick up around minute 4 and do keep ascending. Drums are nice. Keys are bright and triumphant. Female vox take the helm around minute 5 with a new rhythm, led by light cymbals and bass. The thing is, it's just so dated.

Seeing its live representation, "Power in Your Hands" must be popular(?). It was big, and almost good... I'm just not into this sort of thing, I know. It's followed by "The Loreli", ominous and "in a shroud of mystery" haha. Half of it was pretty boring.

Then the track "As You Fall Asleep" must have been aware that I would be listening to this 10+ years later... haha. I will say, the guitar riff paired with the crashing of cymbals is pretty nice. It shifts into... decent... uh... rock opera for a split second haha. Then it's Prog, I think, finally(?!) haha. Again, half a bore, but then half, for the first time on the album, good Prog! Amy Grant's Christmas album from 1983 is more progressive, though, to be completely honest...

"In the Grand Scheme of Things" certainly was a song that existed! Nice hahaha. And finally, the closer, "Mission 14", the first track that I actually had on my main playlist from the original recording (again, Fire in the Sky). The synth-guitar lead/melody around 5:40 is awesome, at least. This ones a bit like CAMEL?! They just don't make epics like they used to, though, huh?

I found most was performed satisfactorily, but much of the sonic choices are hokey and have severely dated themselves. I know people love Neo-Prog, but I have never understood it.

True Rate: 2.5/5.0