PROGRESSIVE ROCK COVERS

The guys from the French label have an excellent taste for good progrock, very refined and eclectic because they have compiled this captivating CD featuring covers from great progrock bands like ELP, King Crimson, VDGG, Trace and ... The Doors and Led Zeppelin! All twelve songs on this compilation are previously released on other Musea CD's except the final track.

Track list: 1 - Toccata (7'39) 2 - Time (4'59) 3 - Immigrant Song (2'53) 4 - Birds Medley (7'52) 5 - Travelling Lady (5'33) 6 - Darkness - 11/11 (7'08) 7 - Child In Time (9'46) 8 - House With No Door (4'07) 9 - Kashmir (14'39) 10 - Dynamite (2'56) 11 - Strange Days (3'06) 12 - Exiles (4'51)

Performing bands: 1. GERARD (Japan) 2. PANGAEA (USA) 3. BLUE SHIFT (USA) 4. ARS NOVA (Japan) 5. LONDON UNDERGROUND (Italy) 6. TWENTY-FOUR HOURS (Italy) 7. QUIDAM (Poland) 8. HALLOWEEN (France) 9. NOW (Belgium) 10. DIFICIL EQUILIBRIO (Spain) 11. VISIBLE WIND (Canada) 12. Thierry CRUSEM & L'AUTRE SYSTEME (France)

In general the level on this CD is good, especially Gerard with Toccata from ELP and Ars Nova with Birds Medley from Trace featuring splendid keyboard-driven prog with an awesome rhythm-section. Blue Shift with Immigrant Song from Led Zeppelin (very dynamic with captivating integration of organ) and Visible Wind with Strange Days from The Doors (very pleasant atmosphere, strong vocals and fiery wah-wah guitar). I don't know the two VDGG songs by London Underground and Halloween but I enjoyed it. The rendition of the classic Child In Time from Deep Purple turned out to be the biggest disappointment on this CD, what a poor female vocals, only the strong work on flute and sensitive guitar saved Quidam! Very remarkable is Exiles from King Crimson by Thierry Crusem & L'Autre Systeme, it sounds very compelling with strong vocals, a dynamic rhythm-section, this band has succeeded to sound original while playing a cover.

In my opinion Musea has released a very interesting CD compilation although most songs can be found on earlier Musea CD releases.