AN OUTCAST OF THE ISLANDS

What made me interested in this album was the sounds like "gamelan" (the Indonesian traditional Instrument), when the first time I listened to the intro of track number 1 from this album i.e. Macassar from the local radio station . At that time I didn't even know, who was the musician/the band who played this beautiful song nor the song title. After several time hunting high and low, searching the info who the musician was, finally I knew the musician behind that song, and now I grab this cd on my hand. At first, I thought it was Camel who played that song, but now I realized that the song was performed by the guy stands not so far from Camel, Colin Bass, the bass player of Camel, one of the world legendary progressive rock bands.

From what I have read, this album was inspired by a book which has the same title, An Outcast of the Islands, created by Joseph Conrad, the story of a man being isolated and took place in South East Asia at the beginning of this century. Also inspired by Colin Bass experiences being an Englishman living in Berlin for twelve years. But Bass didn't say that this is a concept album. His long time friend from Camel, Andy Latimer contributed his guitar playing. The Polish musicians from progressive rock band Quidam and Abraxas and Poznan Orchestra also supported this excellent album. 14 tracks displays covers varies music from moody jazz rock/fusion, pop oriented, folk, some classical/chamber orchestra. Not a very "progressive" attempt, but it does include pleasant music, a real pleasure even for the ears of prog fans. The musicianship of the players and the writers is definitely beyond any doubt.

Now, let's take a look at the tracks more detail, 1st track is Macassar, an instrumental music that combines moody jazz/fusion with the synthesized sound of Javanese Gamelan. Interesting track with the uniqeness of Andy Latimer guitar style and hammond organ as a strong back ground. This is my favorite track. 2nd track is As Far As I Can See, is a pop oriented music, song, guitar style an the way Bass' singing sounds like Eric Clapton's ballad. 3rd track First Quartet is a string quartet instrument, performed by member of The Poznan Philharmonic Orchestra. It looks like an intro to the next song, 4th track Goodbye To Albion, the longest track in this album. A folk tendencies song, with sound of Celtic or Irish. An excellent constant strumming guitar from Szymon Brzezinski covers the back ground from the beginning until the end of this track. Next track, 5th track The Straits of Malacca, this instrumental track demonstrates the heavy guitar riff and fill from Andy Latimer, again, decorated with the synthesized gamelan, a good track and also my favorite. 6th track Aissa, Bass plays the fretless bass, a bass riddled track with the sound of keyboard as back ground. 7th track, an enjoyable pop song, Denpasar Moon. I know that Denpasar Moon firstly popularized in Indonesia by Maribeth Pasqua, a singer from Phillipines who recorded this song in Indonesia circa 1993. I didn't know that the song was created by Colin Bass. 8th track, again a string quartet instrument titled Second Quartet, and also look like an intro to the next song. 9th track No Way Back, started with soloing guitar from Szymon Brezinski, a heavy progressive guitar song, although Latimer didn't include his guitar part at all. 10th track Holding Out My Hand, a moody song with moody guitar and vocals. 11th track The Outcast, again the string quartet instrument, but now bit longer and sounds like a full song, not as an intro. A good string quartet, I like it. 12th track Burning Bridge, a nice track with heavy and tight keyboard in the background and excellent guitar solo. The medium tempo but I feel this track is quite solid and powerful. 13rd track Reap What You Sow, sounds like a country song with the sliding guitar, open with strings, though. 14th track, the last track Trying to Get to You, the mellowest track with only guitar by Colin Bass himself, but Colin includes the Javanese insects and animals as background. What more can I say, I don't think I can say I don't love this stuff, but I love love it very much, instead. Colin Bass did well in this first solo album using his real name. Another reason why I love this album is just maybe Colin put names which are the places in Indonesia, like Macassar, Malacca, and Denpasar. Thank you Colin, you made me proud being an Indonesian. And to all prog lovers, do not hesitate to own this stuff, you will enjoy the varies of beautiful music Anto sulistianto/Indonesia