1992 - THE LOST TAPES

Back in the Nineties, before the internet and email (yes, there was such a time), the only way for fanzine editors and bands to communicate was through snail mail and by sending physical CDs through the post. I have no idea who contacted who first, but Michel St-Père and I were "talking" to each other in that manner back then, which is how I came to review the first two Mystery albums. It could be argued that Mystery have had three distinct phases to their career, defined by three different singers and the gaps created when one left. The current singer is, of course, Jean Pageau, while the singer prior to that was the one pinched by Yes, Benoît David. But when I first came across the band they sounded quite different, and the singer was Gary Savoie. There was a break of nine years between 'Destiny?' and 'Beneath The Veil of Winter's Face', while there had only been two between the latter and the debut, 'Theatre of the Mind', but what I had not realised was that four years prior to that there had been a limited edition five-track EP. These songs have now been remixed by Michel, while Richard Addison (who played bass on this release) remastered it.

With this release, the first track from the original has been combined with the second so this is a four-track EP as opposed to five. The line-up at the time was Michel St-Père (electric and acoustic guitars), Stéphane Perreault (drums & percussion), Benoît Dupuis (keyboards), Raymond Savoie (vocals), Gary Savoie (lead vocals) and Richard Addison (bass), with Raymond singing lead on the one track which later appeared on the full-length debut, "In My Dreams". Musically we have a band who are quite different to the Mystery we know and love today as there is less of the symphonic and while there is some Neo they also bring in plenty of melodic rock.

We get a beautiful ballad in "In My Dreams", which is based around gently picked guitars and wonderful vocals, while the rest of the material is way more dynamic with keyboards and guitars belting along nicely. Richard Addison has long been rated as a very fine bassist indeed and he provides some beautiful runs which sit between the two, providing additional melodies. I don't know why this did not get more attention at the time, apart from it being pre- internet and the mass media's general loathing of anything like this style of music. I have no idea why Gary left Mystery, but it had nothing to do with his talent as this guy has great pipes and I find it strange not to find anything else involving him since he left. Michel has always been a wonderful guitarist, and his delicate solo on closing track "Cinderella" is an absolute delight.

Having not previously heard this release it is great to have it available now and is well worth discovering for all progheads, while Mystery fans will of course be quite intrigued indeed. Hopefully this will also encourage people to uncover the earlier iterations of the band as next year they celebrate their 40th anniversary and they have always been class.