REVOLUTIONS

Magenta is an original group, that is classified as Neo-Prog, but which could be in my sense symphonic-prog. Their originality lies in the fact that there is a female lead-singer, Christina Booth, and a keyboard-oriented music, namely with composer Rob Reed, a fabulous instrumentist.

Their debut production is a double CD. A concept opus on 'faith'. There are a couple of epics on each one, divided in tracks, separated by an original acoustic short track. Other colleagues here have described very well the music in details, and I just want to add a few general feelings. Each composition is very progressive, with a lot of variations, changes of rhythms, very melodic, with the omnipresence of keyboard sounds, and a brilliant guitar play, either rythmic or solo. All this is surrounded by the nice voice of Christina, and the sound quality is extraordinary, where we recognize a very good detail work, permitting the production to attain high standards, in that regard. The musicians are very skilled, as we can expect in progressive music. And talking about prog qualities : you discover interesting new elements, we you listen to it again...

CD-2, in my view, is a must, because it is technically perfect, with complex music composition that is however easy to listen, with brilliant passages and perfectly fit in the prog world. The guitar play, in link with the keyboard most various performances, renders a super-good enjoyable music. A very solid addition in my collection.

What kind of fan-prog-music would like this one ? Probably not an extreme-prog-metal one, neither a progressive metal one. But if you like Genesis, IQ, Marillion, Spock's Beard and Flower Kings, for melodic and well developed complex/complete music, it is for you. But since I have a lot of these groups' CD, I can say that Magenta is distinctly different, and they are equally interesting to discover.

I would qualify CD-1 with something such as 4.2-4.4, and CD-2 with near 5.0. And don't worry, this CD of Magenta is not an exception in quality standards (you will see coming from me a very perfect 5/5 for their 'Seven' magnificient composition). This is really hard to distinguish between 4 and 5 points. I see that exactly at around 4,5 ! As the note of 5 should be given for perfection, I am unfortunately obliged to go for '4', which is a superb addition to a prog rock music collection.