THE WHIRLWIND

Transatlantic is the best example of a super-group to me, with four very talented musicians from four of the greatest progressive rock bands ever, Dream Theater (Mike Portnoy), Marillion (Pete Trewavas), Flower Kings (Roine Stolt) and Spock's Beard (Neal Morse). And I'm a huge fan of all these four bands and of the four musicians. But this doesn't mean necessarily a guarantee of the quality of Transatlantic. However, Transatlantic isn't, for sure, one of those failed experiments. It was proved before with two previous amazing studio albums, albums that are branded as two classics.

"The Whirlwind" is the third studio album of Transatlantic and that was released in 2009. It's available in three formats, a standard traditional edition, a double disc special edition and a deluxe edition, which is mine. The standard traditional edition has the main album, while indexed into twelve tracks, "The Whirlwind", which is considered as only one song. The double disc special edition, in addition to the main album, has a bonus disc that includes eight studio recordings, four original Transatlantic's songs and four cover songs. The four cover songs are "The Return Of The Giant Hogweed" from Genesis, "A Salty Dog" from Procol Harum, "I Need You", a song that is a combination of America's and The Beatles and "Soul Sacrifice" from Santana. The deluxe edition, beyond the main album and the bonus disc, contains also a DVD. This release of "The Whirlwind" is probably the version that most fans will desire, and that it will be by a very good reason. The DVD contains a rather lengthy and very insightful journey with this super group. Namely, it tells that Roine Stolt, Neil Morse, Pete Trewavas and Mike Portnoy as they reunite and go about recording this new Transatlantic's album. All over the DVD, we can clearly see that they have an amazing chemistry between each other.

"The Whirlwind" is a concept album divided into a twelve part epic, running just about seventy-eight minutes. It deals with ecological and political issues. The full piece has some recurring themes, both lyrically and musically. Lyrically, there are a lot of references to the wind in most songs, while musically the themes of the album appear on it at different times and in different forms. The concept is more difficult to grip than many usual concepts. For instance, it's easy to find out the concepts behind "The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway", "Scenes From A Memory", "2112", "The Wall" or "A Thick As A Brick". It revolves more around the struggles faced in live, not just in ours, but in other lives too. Many running themes that will pass the album are the whirlwind, the ship and the lives that are affected by the whirlwind.

One of the greatest advantages of this album is that the concept is split into twelve parts, making some of the songs more accessible and easier to listen to. That was some elements that were missing from the other two earlier studio works, with tracks sprawled between ten minutes and a half an hour. The balance between the vocals and the rest of the band also improved. Morse and Stolt share their vocal duties equally and the four musicians bring more highly complex instrumental works into each track. This became an important advantage that was gained in the making of this album.

Musically, the album arising with an orchestral introduction, the customary cool prog instrumental arrangements follows and the Transatlantic sound returns as they used to serve us. There are many fine musical arrangements here, which combine vocals and instrumentation that sound wonderfully. Subtle musical references to symphonic prog rock legends like Genesis, Yes, Gentle Giant and Pink Floyd are audible and recognizable here. However, fans of The Flower Kings, Spock's Beard and the solo albums of Neal Morse will also love this album. The craftsmanship of these four musicians is outstanding and the compositions are even better than those on their previous albums. There are many fine arrangements that combined with the vocals of the chorus sound wonderful. "The Whirlwind" has ample twists and turns to maintain your attention, with their enthralling musicianship Transatlantic have again given us a fine release.

Conclusion: Many improvements were made on "The Whirlwind". The album is more accessible, better balanced and laid a great foundation for the concept to lie on. None of these elements were so well contained in the past two studio albums. So, "The Whirlwind" is a better album than its predecessors. Transatlantic isn't an everyday band, but a group of extraordinary and accomplished musicians who have come together to do what they do better and record the kind of prog music that they and their fans like. So, give to "The Whirlwind" the time to be perfectly digested as it deserves. Albums like these are the reason why I love prog. So, this new Transatlantic's album deserves an inclusion in your prog collection. Just to finish, I need to write some more few words about the disc two. As I wrote above, the second disc is actually a bonus disc. It's one half originals and the other half is covers. I personally enjoyed it, but it's just only a nice bonus disc to the really impressive first disc. I particularly enjoyed the cover songs on it. It's always a pleasure to hear such songs performed again in a more modern way, as a tribute to so many great bands and musicians from the past.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

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