DESERT DREAMS

When I heard about this band I knew I had to get this CD. After all, a symphonic prog band from Holland is always something worth listening. You see, that country has a long and rich tradition of delivering fine prog music since the early 70´s. And Desert Dreams follows this tradiitionm, although Fusonic´s debut album is far from perfect. The CD is totally instrumental, which is no surprise since there are several dutch bands that delivered such style with excellency, past and present (Focus, Trace, Odyssice, Trion, just no name a few). The group is formed by talented musicians, featuring the excellent guitar works of a guy named just Teo. He plays in the traditional mode of other great ones like Andrew Latimer, Jan Akkermann and Steve Hackett.

Unfortunatly the CD is just too long, not very well produced and the tracklist is not very well balanced. When they play that melodic stuff with influences from bands like Focus and Camel, Fusonic really shines: Beyond Music, Yellow Horses, Endless and Fata Morgana are good examples of how far they can go if they persue this direction. But on other tracks, like The Desert Themes, the music is just atmospheric and quite boring. It would be interesting if the keyboards had more space to develop the soundscapes (like on Desert Dawn). Most of the time I liked the CD, although this is typically the case where you have to listen more than once to really get it.

All in all I found Desert Dreams quite enjoyable. This is a promising band that has great potential. With a better production, bolder arrangements and stronger tunes, they will surely make theri mark in the future. I´m looking forward to hear their next work.

Final rating: something between 3 and 3.5 stars.