MAREK ARNOLD'S ARTROCK PROJECT

This may be a full-blown project as opposed to a band, with numerous performers (I think around 50 but I lost count) but somehow this always feels like a band. Marek has long been in demand in multiple bands, and this clearly demonstrates his skill not only in composing but the way he arranges the music so there is continuity even though there are multiple players involved. This is Neo to the max with keyboards and guitars joining together to ensure people remember the second part of "Prog Rock" is "Rock", but there is always a very commercial crossover feel to the music so it is very easy to get inside and enjoy the first time of playing, even if it is quite different in approach and not as bombastic or egotistical as some. There is a perfect place for solos to enhance the songs, but never to take them over, and this certainly never sounds as if Marek had to sweat over multiple years to combine all the music files he had been sent to make this a glorious whole. It never comes across as patchwork but instead is an album where the listener soon forgets how it was created and instead concentrates on the songs.

We kick off with the song which was originally the opener on the debut Toxic Smile album in 2000, "Airang" which here has been given a slightly different title, and we get both a small "Preview" and small "Review". Marek is joined on this by bassist Robert Brenner who played on the original, plus a host of guests including the mighty Marco Minnemann and it is taken to new levels with driving guitars, great vocals and a band determined to do justice to the 12 minutes plus number. This is followed by "Stay", a song which I believe to be perfect and the one I have played more than any other over the years. Malanie Mau is a wonderful singer (check out her albums with Martin Schnella, who is also playing here) and this is the song where Marek really reached out to his friends. I am not going to name everyone involved, but anything which includes Gary Chandler is always going to be worthwhile. We get multiple guitar solos and duels, a sax solo cutting through, a key change, harmony vocals to die for, who could wish for more?

There is a lightness and joy throughout this album, and a knack for hooks which takes it away from normal Neo Prog (whatever that is) and into realms more closely related to melodic rock and pop (back when it was a genre people enjoyed as opposed to being sheep drawn into the banality of it all). Marek is not afraid to multi-layer his saxophones if that is what is needed or stand back and let the guitars take the lead while he waits for the right time for the drums to come crashing in and keyboards take control while the vocals soar above them all. This is a delight from beginning to end.

The concept behind this was when Uwe Treitinger, organizer of the established Artrock Festival Reichenbach/Vogtland had the idea for a "hymn" for the festival and asked Marek to provide it. He wrote the song, "Stay", played keyboards and saxophone and asked many of his friends to get involved, with lead vocals provided by Melanie Mau. I am not saying I fell in love with this song the first time I heard it, nor that I still play it to this day, but according to my profile on Last.FM it is easily my most played track since I started scrobbling in 2007. There is something about it from the hooks through the vocals to the six solos to the guitars and sax which is difficult for me to explain, but it makes me feel this is the perfect song and I never tire of it.

Of course, as this is a collection of the EPs we get repeated tracks, with different lengths, so we kick off with two versions of "Stay" and then the third part of the "Berlin 2049" suite which appears on the debut, "Leave Well Enough Alone". The second EP, 'Papillon', was released in September 2023, sung by Arno Menses (Sieges Even/Subsignal), and finds Marek concentrating more on his own musicianship for support with heavy use of keyboards and sax in the early stages until it becomes a bouncing prog number, and again we get two versions of the song along with the sixth section of the "Berlin 2049" suite, 'Riding The Line". The third EP was released in December 2023, shortly before Christmas, with the ballad "A Time Of Mystery," sung by Manuel Schmid (Stern Combo Meissen), this time in three versions, plus the final part of the "Berlin 2049" suite, " Reason To Lie".

This would be enough for most people, but Marek was determined to make this collection special for those who already had the EPs so he has added more songs, including "Aiden" which features Patrik Lundström (Ritual /Kaipa), Steve Bühring, and Jana Pöche on vocals and is a continuation of the "Berlin 2049" suite which is not available elsewhere. Given the repeated songs which come with an EP compilation this will not be for everyone, but for fans like me this is invaluable and well worth discovering if you enjoy commercial crossover prog which is fun and easy to listen to.