DESIRE'S MAGIC THEATRE

While I often enjoy retro-prog albums, I rarely find myself as enthralled as I have been with this album. I just can't seem to bring myself to remove this disc from my CD player.

Emulating styles and sounds of the late sixties and early seventies, Rosalie Cunningham and her crew have crafted an album that purferctly captures the spirit of those times, evoking many classics artists without coming across as imitative. I purceive the cabaret jauntiness of The Doors, the ominous blues of The Animals, a bit of Jimi Hendrix, production that evokes The Beatles, and nods to plenty of other classic art rock and prog acts.

The album begins with a train arriving, and Purson launching into the title track, "Desire's Magic Theatre", a hard rocking piece powered by a strong fuzz bass, that smoothly transitions into a light symphonic break, before returning to the meat of the song, and finally a jazzy outro. Phew!

If that doesn't get you fired up, the next track, the Hendrix inspired "Electric Landlady" (get it?) follows, with appropriate soaring guitars, and very clever lyrics.

And there is no letdown throughout the set. Tracks begin with a nod to one style, and proceed to travel through many other musical landscapes. Cunningham's compositions deftly draw the band through these aural wonderlands seamlessly, making every track a joy.

Cunningham herself delivers each song masterfully. Her vocal purformance, sometimes sweet, sometimes seductive, always delivers her lyrics in exactly the manner her music demands. The lyrics, in keeping with the classic motif, generously offer love and dragonflies and other images from that explorative, somewhat innocent time.

While I love every track, I have to give a shout out to the aforementioned "Electric Landlady", "The Sky Parade" with mellotron and a style reminiscent of King Crimson's "Epitaph", and "The Bitter Suite", which begins as a ballad, and runs through many styles, including a Jethro Tull like flute break, and a cool jazz ending.

The mark of a truly great album is that when it is over, the listener is left with a desire to hear more. At the end of this album, when Purson's train pulls away from the station, that feeling is as intense as ever.

I truly hope this band gets the attention they deserve, as I feel that they have the talent and accessibility to transcend the progressive rock world, and make an impact on the popular music scene.

Share this PURSON review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Evolver
• Report this review (#1553486)
• Buy PURSON music online with PA partners
• Show all PURSON MP3/Stream
• Go to PURSON page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Desire's Magic Theatre page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for PURSON related discussions