FOR KING AND COUNTRY

How can nobody have written about this? It's truly exceptional.

I heard THE SORCERER on Prog magazine's last free CD, and it's 15 minutes of pure Prog pleasure. The subject matter seemed a bit pretentious, and even the music to begin with... but once you're into it... oh my word. It's so upbeat, Full of Prog instrumentation, and then there's PETER JONES' voice, which is SO good.

This latest album is a re-working of an album that originated in 1993, with all instruments having been played by one ROBERT REED. This time, Reed has a full band behind him and there are really no weaknesses.

As the album progresses one can only be impressed by Jones' voice, it's astonishing really. But that also does the band a disservice. The instrumental song SNOWBOUND features some excellent band interplay, which is rare to hear these days.

In fact, you also get a DVD when you buy the CD and the tightness of the bass when heard on that (in stereo, as I haven't got 5.1 surround sound) is wonderful. Soundwise, they're probably more like Transatlantic than any thing, only much better, and with that voice of Peter Jones, well...

And then we reach the final and title track, FOR KING AND COUNTRY. Although modern military voices are heard in the background one can't help but think of WW1 tommies and the trenches. Anyway, after a subdued start we will head off to a rousing finale as the band go through the gears searching for a climatic ending. Do they get there? The feet tapping suggests that they do, and what's more, once FOR KING AND COUNTRY recedes into the past you'll be putting on THE SORCERER again to start the whole show again.

To be honest, if it hadn't had been on that demo CD I'd probably have missed the boat here. Instead, I DID find it and I'm very glad that I did. And Peter Jones' voice is a revelation, it really is.

Reissue nearly 30 years later of their 1st opus, which I hadn't listened to, this over-boosted 'For King' begs to be dissected and compared:

'The Sorceror' tumbles with an updated neo-prog sound à la LIFESIGNS, putting Robert's keyboards forward, punchy. 'Call Me' reboosted, interesting to compare with the original version. 'I Defy the Sun' for the Anglican ditty with a bit of a guitar solo and this Genesis sound with delicate arpeggios. 'Don't Turn Away' for the album's symphonic bombshell; when rock merges with classical through orchestration; the neo-jazzy central part with the contribution of the female voice boosting that of Peter; grandiloquent. 'Snowbound' instrumental giving pride of place to keyboards; it's fresh, the charismatic flute sends on GENESIS, on ASIA; the sound is much heavier, structured and gripping than on the original. The energetic guitar solos raise the sound even more. 'Man Amongst Men' wants to be more fun, enlightened, airy and dated according to me even revisited; a good 90 or even 80 sound here; a superb solo by Luke then the convoluted jazzy part reminding me of the COLLINS GENESIS period where he worked solo elsewhere. 'Nightflight' always reminds me of a title by PATTI SMITH from the time when we weren't looking for musical drawers but for beautiful music; an instrument full of synths of course. We also think we have a toccata for a moment then a dance passage Andalusian bossa nova or other. The synth refers to ARAGON for a time too and GENESIS of course. The finale in vintage sound on an Oldfieldian flute. 'For King and Country' at the end with the sound stamped neo rock of the 80s: voice, soli all embellished with Robert's symphonic touch; the playful title.

Good review with a boosted sound, musicians aware of their notes, a fresh neo-prog album which shows that this era was very fruity and much more symphonic than now, when we had more time.

Imagine if you will, a time when there was no glossy Prog magazine, no internet, no email, and the only way to find out about the latest progressive bands was by subscribing to fanzines, word of mouth, joining mailing lists (which were photocopied missives) and attending gigs. It feels like a different world now, but when Cyan released 'For King and Country' nearly 30 years ago that was the position we were all in. 1993 saw multi-instrumentalist Robert Reed re- record some tracks from the Eighties, along with some new ones, and it was released on CD by SI Music from Holland. I was on the SI promo list, so was sent this along with some others and reviewed it in Feedback #18 and put the artwork on the cover. Not long afterwards I remember meeting Rob at Whitchurch where he was then working with Ezra, neither of us imagining that all these years later he is not only known as the man behind Magenta and countless other albums, but he would be revisiting that debut anew.

For those who have never seen or heard the original, which is most of you to be fair, the cover of the new version is what the original would have looked like if a professional artist with high digital skills had been employed the first time around, and in many ways we can say the same about the music as back then it was one man at home whereas now we have a full band and loads of experience. Rob may have sung on the original, but here he allows himself background vocals only, (as well as keyboards and guitar) and is joined by Peter Jones (lead vocals, sax, whistles), Luke Machin (guitar) and Dan Nelson (bass) along with guests Tim Robinson (drums), Angharad Brinn (backing vocals) and Tesni Jones (backing vocals).

This is not a faithful reproduction of the original album, but rather is a re-imagining as the songs have been re- written, extended and changed, and then the band have put their own stamp on proceedings. Many will recognise at least one of these, "Call Me", as it is one which has been performed by Magenta for years and can be found on their 2010 live album 'The Gathering', but here it sounds quite different with male vocals, but it is opening track "The Sorcerer" which will probably be gaining most attention as it is simply epic, both in style and length. Classic prog with neo leanings. Remember, this was originally recorded back in 93 when that style of music was at its height, yet here it has been taken into new progressive areas while never losing that naivety and joy. One does not need to have heard the original to enjoy this for what it is, a wonderful progressive album with Peter relishing the opportunity to put his stamp on these songs while Robert takes all his years of working with Magenta to transform the originals into something special while the rest of the guys push all the time.

This is a wonderful album which prog fans need to get hold of and take it from me it will be much easier than trying to track down the original. My review of that album back in 1993 (which can be read in TPU Vol 1) said the weakest part was the vocals, yet even then the album was well worth discovering. Nearly 30 years now, I can address that by saying this version is essential.

A great album of classic throwback symphonic progressive rock. Cyan is a project of multi-instrumentalist -songwriter Robert Reed. He initially created Cyan back in the early '90's, primarily as a solo project, released a few albums, then went on to form the full-fledged progressive rock band Magenta (featuring strong influences of Genesis, Yes, Renaissance, Pink Floyd, and Mike Oldfield), to great success. However, this year, Rob convened an all-new version of Cyan, bringing in musicians such as guitarist Luke Maschin and Peter Jones (vocals) to record an all-new revised, re-imagined, and revitalized version of a previous Cyan solo album, For King and Country. The result is just wonderful, and although it is a revised version of a nearly 30-yr old album, it sounds fresh and vibrant, in the style of classic prog. In addition, this album is special to me because it introduced to me to the world of music created by Rob Reed, Magenta, and Peter Jones, as I had not listened to them previously, but after this album I immersed myself into Reed's other projects, mainly Magenta (8 albums 2001-2020) and other solo albums, which I now love wholeheartedly, as well as Peter Jones other work (Tiger Moth Tales), and these artists have been the best and most important musical discovery for me in 2021.