A MEMORY OF OUR FUTURE

Man Doki Soulmates fuses prog rock with jazz-rock for a disconcerting summary.

'Blood in the Water' bam the Jethro Tull flute takes the lead; a catchy Gabrielesque world music air immediately emerges with jazzy-symphonic hints, a bit of Toto for the suave air; piano and flute break accompanied by drums. 'Enigma of Reason' with double vocal line, acoustic guitar by Di Meola, pads and keyboards drifting on an ethnic fusion, the sax in a soothing stroke, jazz becomes prog in a good way, in search of new sound elements; have a bit of Yessian choirs, the voice and atmosphere of a Youssou n'Dour; twirling accordion, warm woodwind instruments with the easy-to-access pop choir and the enjoyable meolean finale. 'The Wanderer' lollipop sweetness, Knopflerian ballad, real gem; languorous anthem on the harms of the pandemic, the voice accentuating the effect of a possible serene future with words from Tolkien. 'The Big Quit' air world, on one side Chick Corea, on the other Peter Gabriel in his danceable pieces; the sound fuses the compulsive air eyeing not specific decades but musical genres; a utopian fusion to bring together the jazzy fan with the neo-classical ones, the one who experiences music as an art of entertainment and the one who sees it as an intimate moment; I hear Vollenweider, Woody Allen, it's Arabic and diverse. 'Devil's Encyclopedia' an encore 'Blood' with Ian and his flute and the addictive rhythmic base leading to headbanging on it; heady, compulsive, rolling over musical name barriers; very fresh, modern. 'A Memory of My Future' is the song that made me want to review it; fluid guitar from Mike Stern, sax from Dire Straits, heavy violin riff, easy chorus and hushed vocals like Mark, captivating tunes. The music merges as dreamed to silence those who want drawers; ah this trumpet bewitches me, beyond the music.

'I Am Because You Are' continues with a folk pop tune that Knopfler would not deny, melodic sweetness mixed with sensual world music, the clarinet, the tune like 'Why Worry', the bucolic lullaby. 'My Share of Your Life' with the bewitching intro, the organ predominating; chorus which gives pride of place to this guitar ticking off time with its crystalline notes; the redundant and addictive break, flirting with the aforementioned ambiances. 'Age of Thought' jazzy trumpet from a night bar bringing the fusion with this Bartok-style neo-classic with a folkloric side that is strong right up to Cory's plaintive organ, a zest of Kansas too, hilarious. 'Matchbox Racing' again Knopfler, Toto-like air, musical diversity, a bit of Flower Kings, Big Big Train with a trumpet casting doubt on the prog sound; confusing and enjoyable. 'We Stay Loud' violin and ethnic percussion for the heady rhythm and a rambling of timeless jam notes; dancing, swinging, tribal. 'Melting Pot' with a warm African world feel; slow peregrination on the border of the jazzy psyche or how to bring music together.

Man Doki Soulmates offers authentic, contemporary, enjoyable, lascivious and unforgettable music; warm and moving, minimal and complete. A musical haven for a major album. (Initially on progcensor)

A mix of musical super talents walk into a bar, and one guy takes notice and says "Hey guys, why don't we get together and form the supergroup to end all supergroups?" Supergroups are an interesting and unique form of band, usually getting one or two albums out before eventually splitting due to massive egos. CSNY and ELP are prime examples of supergroups who tried to stay together, but their animosity also lead to their eventual crash and burn. Mike + The Mechanics is one of the few that kept it together because despite being a collaborative effort, Mike Rutherford was the one calling the shots. Here, we get the latter. Leslie Mandoki calls the shots, and he decides to take the most ambitious approach possible. Let's do the whole thing in analog. The end result is A Memory of Our Future, an ambitious undertaking by the ultimate supergroup to release the ultimate album of 2024. And this album does not miss the mark.

At about 78 minutes in length, you might think this would be a difficult monster to get through, but with the amount of talent present on this album, you will never feel a moment of "this is an absolute bore," but instead you will find a lot of catchy hooks, and some great messages. The album opens proper with Jethro Tull legend Ian Anderson's flute playing, and it doesn't let go. You will hear all manner of instruments and vocal tricks here, and it will hit you, this is pure analog audio. In most modern music, the idea will be to just run things through a computer and let it take care of the rest. Leslie Mandoki doesn't do that, and instead says "[%*!#] it, we'll do it live," and the end result is audio candy. There is no album today that sounds as cleanly mixed as this, and if you're going to listen to this album, you best get it on vinyl if you want the greatest experience out there.

Some of my choice favorites on here are Blood In The Water, The Big Quit, and A Memory Of My Future. I already talked about how Blood In The Water opens with Ian Anderson's flute playing, but The Big Quit is the most upbeat song with a very catchy hook that could easily lure in a casual listener, and A Memory Of My Future is a much more understated song that shows off Leslie Mandoki's ability to weave a poetic song about the emotional uncertainty of what lies ahead. It's fantastic stuff.

I normally wouldn't be this quick to judge and say "let other albums come out first," but I'm making the call. This is my personal Best Album of 2024. From the talent on display, to the songwriting, A Memory Of Our Future is a brilliant album that strips away all the digital dressing of today's music, and brings it back to basics in a way I can only describe as timeless. If there is absolutely one album you need to listen to in 2024, Mandoki Soulmates' A Memory Of Our Future is it.

This is a music project put together by German-Hungarian musician-producer Leslie Mandoki featuring an All-Star cast of International musicians playing a bold mixture of jazz-rock, progressive rock, and world music, as well as socio-political commentary on world issues. They have produced multiple albums over the past 20 years or so. This latest effort features the talents of such luminaries as Ian Anderson (flute), Al Di Meola (guitar), Mike Stern (guitar), Randy Brecker (trumpet), Bill Evans (sax), John Helliwell (sax, clarinet),and Simon Phillips (drums), among others. Yes, this is a 'message' album, but the music never takes a back seat to the lyrics and social themes. On the contrary, the music is the star here, and what a shining star it is. Vibrant and engaging jazz-rock with catchy melodies and rhythms, masterful instrumental passages and extended solos, and thought-provoking lyrics. In addition to the stellar music and arrangements, this album is a masterpiece of production technology, recorded completely in analog with audiophile excellence and a vibrant live sound. Certainly one of the best sounding albums you will hear all year. The songs are wonderful and feature abundant contributions from the all-star cast. The album opens with Ian Anderson's aggressive and prominent flute in Blood on the Water, continues with Enigma of a Reason with Al Di Meola's classical-style guitar prominently featured. All in all, dynamic, flowing arrangements of some fantastic jazzy songs from a stellar cast of musicians, a wonderful, vibrant sonic experience. Best Tracks: Blood in the Water, Enigma of a Reason, Devil's Encyclopedia, Age of Thought, The Big Quit, We Stay Loud. Rating: 4 stars

Before the appearance of and active attention garnered by this album on ProgArchives, I'd never heard of Hungary's László "Leslie" Mandoki, Dschinghis Khan, or the Mandoki Soulmates--this despite over 19 studio albums since the late 1970s! I do like his vision of collaborating with and eclectic array of world musicians.

1. Blood in the Water (6:54) Ian Anderson flute with a Jethro Tull-like motif with a UNITOPIA-like vocal and plenty of guest appearances on Hammond organ, piano, Motown rhythm guitar, supporting vocals, and uncredited violin all expertly pieced together like a BIG BIG TRAIN song. Great earworm of a lyric. I love the flute play throughout as well as the piano and Motown wah-wah guitar but the udu play is really the highlight. (13.5/15)

2. "Enigma of Reason" (10:06) opens like a Gospel spiritual set to some Caribbean-influenced World music. The multi- voice vocals that soon ensue sound like Peter Gabriel is in there. Matter of fact, this sounds very much like a Peter Gabriel world-consciousness song (or perhaps Robbie Robertson or Sting). The performances are all clean and gentle, I like them, but nothing here is earth-shatteringly impressive or worth writing home about despite the presence of Al Di Meola and Randy Brecker. My guess is that band leader Leslie Mandoki highly reveres the man his music emulates (Gabriel). (17.66667/20)

3. "The Wanderer" (5:04) the UNITOPIA/UNITED PROGRESSIVE FRATERNITY, BIG BIG TRAIN, PETER GABRIEL, ROBBIE ROBERTSON mélange of world music instruments continues--this one sounding the most like it comes straight off of Robbie's classic self-tiitled album from 1987. Gutsy mix for a proggy Americana song. (8.75/10)

4. "The Big Quit" (8:35) a scathing social commentary of the evils of modern times delivered over a UNITED PROGRESSIVE FRATERNITY array of instruments and sounds. Al Di Meola's flamboyant acoustic guitar shows the master still has it, but the vocal delivery and straightforward beat-it-in-your-face melody and structure just gets old fast. Every time I listen to this I find my attention wandering, brought back by Al's guitar or the occasional familiar/meaningful phrase. (17.3333/20)

5. "Devil's Encyclopedia" (5:48) more in-your-face group chant-singing and eclectic world instrumentation used to pound some music for the expression of some indictment of modern society. (17.3333/10)

6. "A Memory of My Future" (6:26) at this point in the album, the odu-driven world music rock palette is growing a little stale. Here we have Berklee College of Music bass department chair Steve Bailey's fretless bass, Bill Evans' and/or Suptertramp's John Helliwell's saxhophone, Randy Brecker's trumpets, Al Di Meola's mellifluous acoustic guitar runs, and Ian Anderson's matter-of-fact vocal adding spice to Leslie's hand percussives. It's all very impressive and impeccably well pieced together, just a little too monochromatic and mundane (which both feel like oxymorons for this kind of music). (8.75/10)

7. "I Am Because You Are" (4:32) Leslie singing in his Robbie Robertson-like voice over another world-infused Smooth Jazz instrumental palette. (8.75/10)

8. "My Share of Your Life" (7:48) 9. "Age of Thought" (4:38) 10. "Matchbox Racing" (6:56) 11. "We Stay Loud" (5:25) 12. "Melting Pot" (5:52)

Total Time 78:04

As much as I admire this kind of music (the stuff artists like Peter Gabriel, Mark Trueack, Marco Bernard, Galahad, Big Big Train, and many others seem compelled to make), I find it all quite homogenous and interchangeable, and, thus, rather boring. It is virtually impossible for me to listen to an album of this type of music straight through cuz I get so antsy and ready to move on to something different (something I like)--the music just drives me away! Plus, these artists are the type that like to put out these monstrously long albums. I've found that I can get into a 40 to 45 minute long album much more easily than I can anything longer than that. (Is my nervous system conditioned from the thousands of vinyl albums I owned in the 1970s--albums whose hand-held liner notes were as valuable to the listening experience as the expensive needle and speakers I had to deliver it?) It seems that my deep dive into the music of the 1960s and 1970s (Prog Folk, Jazz and Jazz-Rock Fusion) has left me even more allergic to these bombastic, manifesto- delivering world NeoProg artists and their preachy albums. I am VERY much of their globally-empathetic mindset and greatly admire their fortitude to carry on their missions, but I just don't find the music or messages necessary for me. This makes me sad for I know that these artists are working very hard, that they are very serious in their compositional discipline and artful expression of the conscience-raising messages that compel them to create, I'm just not there anymore. (I see Collapse as inevitable, the consume-and-throw-away mentality too inextricably ingrained within our species' deepest consciousness.) So I apologize. Perhaps these are the artists and albums that I should simply stay away from; I should just let others be, give them the freedom to travel their own path without having to face the negativity of a nay-sayer like me. Hmm. Something to seriously ponder.

As for the album rating for this review (which is going to remain, I fear, incomplete): I feel that this is good--very well- crafted, engineered, and performed--but it is not anything essential to anyone's progressive rock music collection, yet I feel it deserves high recommendations so that others can feel duly encouraged to try it out and decide for themselves. Kudos to Leslie and his gang of All-Stars; sorry it just doesn't click for me.