THE SNOW GOOSE

This is propably one of the best instrumental albums ever, if not the best. All the songs (if you can call these instrumental themes songs) have great melodies. Songs are wellstructured and very well put together. Melody never dissappears and each song changes to the next one very smoothly. This is a true concept album - the band tells a intresting story without saying a single word.

Let's take this album apart: first short track seems like nothing extraordinary, but it creates such a good atmosphere, it prepares you for things that are coming. After slow (but good) start comes "Rhayader" - now this is something. The flute melody will stay in your mind forever. It's one of the most beautiful things you will ever hear. Next one - "Rhayader Goes To Town" - takest the tempo up at first and you feel the power of the music. Then the track slows down a little. The melodie is once again great and there is even a bluesy guitar solo which fits very nicely there. After that there are 2 nice short tracks until a guitar starts playing and what a play it is ("The Snow Goose"). The melody of this song is so powerful that the band decided to repeat it in the final of the album. Next one "Friendship" is quite dark but at the same time also funny track, which is followed by a musical theme ("Migration") where someone is even making some voice (do do do do). At the end of the first part the same atmosphere comes back as in the beginning with "Rhayader Alone" as a guitar plays gentle. It's dark and magical and you can tell that someone is really alone.

Side two starts off with a bang - "Flight Of The Snow Goose" is a feelgood song and makes you forget the dark themes you heard earlier. This melody will propably stick to your mind too. Then the tempo goes down and album reaches a somewhat low point ("Preparation"), where the band repeats a theme several minutes and nothing very interesting happens and you might get just a little bit bored. This is low point only because the rest of the album is truely marvellous. Unnoticable comes nest track - Dunkirk - which shows even some anger as the music goes louder and louder until reaching climax. Then they almoust repeat the "Preparation" theme. This time it's shorter (with a different name "Epitaph") and very relaxing after the agressive ending of the previous track. Before the grand finale comes "Fritha Alone", which is a very nice piano number. The finale: they took some of the best themes of the album, made some modifications, different instruments play the main parts and what is the result? A great climax to an excellent album. As the last track fades away you may want to repeat the whole experience.

If you want to hear some really wonderful melodies, listen to this album. Good thing about the melodies is that different instruments are playing the main parts in different songs. One time its guitar, next time flute or keyboards. This album would be a perfect place to start for the people who want to get to know instrumental music, but haven't dared yet. Dont be afraid, you wont be disapointed.