TALIESIN

In a foggy primeval woods known to be haunted by goblins, you follow a will-o-wisp down an overgrown path to the next keep, where you will drink your ale and retire to a room above the pub with the dragon on its sign. Tszirmay's fabulous review led me to this CD and he was right on the money. "Taliesin" is a giant of pastoral folk-prog and certainly one of the finest examples of what I think of as "Middle-Earth" music, that which brings your mind back to the middle ages, the Renaissance, or some fantasy place you think about. Black Widow Records, normally known for pretty dark and heavy fare have a charming and mellow classic in their catalog with Gian Castello. It is too bad that he is apparently so hermit like on the web-there is dreadfully little information out there about this fine artist and his other album is virtually impossible to find. Castello is a formidable flautist and multi-instrumentalist based in Genova who has assembled a troupe of musicians to bring this magical, musical tale to life so successfully. While having Italian vocals the album really has more of an Irish sound than Italian prog and a strong feeling of the Celtic music scene of which Castello is an enthusiast.

"Taliesin" may be the ultimate cross of fine pastoral progressive music with Renaissance vibe and Celtic folk. This project is right up to par in both talent and spirit with great artists like Gryphon, Celeste, Faveravola, and Pererin. In fact Castello has elements of each of those groups present in Taliesin. The story is really not about hobbits or dragons, but about the legend of the Welsh witch Keridwin who sought to cheer up her deformed son by preparing a potion of wisdom. Problem is, her servant Gwion Bach accidentally drank a few drops of the potion that spilled onto his hand. This gave Gwion great powers and angered Keridwin. Gwion was reborn with magical powers as Taliesin and this album is a poetic and musical interpretation of the tale. The music itself is soft and easily flowing like a river winding, acoustic instruments with a folky Pererin sound as a frequent base, often bouncing a bit for a toe-tap. It makes me feel like I'm a member of the adventuring party shown on the cover of Heart's Little Queen. Imagine gentle male and female vocals in storytelling mode (with a campfire burning somewhere in the background), harmonizing a beautiful melody with acoustic guitar behind, and then a violin running away between the verses. There is effective hand drumming and exotic percussion. Arrangements are simple and effective giving each performance the chance to shine without being drowned out by too much activity. I find the material to take the lyrical and musical themes to just about the right point, never too far and never silly. While I joke a bit about Middle Earth this is not Spinal Tap's Stonehenge. It is gorgeous, fluently performed folk music. Atop the Irish-Italian folk feels are all of the cool bells and whistles, literally! Castello himself plays tons of tin whistle and flute along with dulcimer, guitars, percussion, and vocals. Anna Manusso adds violins and vocals. Enrico Cotella contributes keyboards and percussion, and Marco Canepa handled samples, computers, mixing, and percussion. An additional half-dozen folks assisted the project with guest guitars and vocals, art design, translations, and other tasks. The booklet is great with some kind of ancient alphabet drawing and complete English translation of the fable to follow along with the story. The front and back cover art, when placed side by side, form a fantastic painting that cries out for a proper mini-LP sleeve edition. The sound quality is pristine allowing the sometimes softly played instruments to fill your living room with no problems. I need more time to decide if this album deserves the masterpiece status Tszirmay awards (I have a feeling I may be hearing from him for not awarding 5 stars straightaway, but he knows that 5th star and me are like oil and water;-). But either way you are dealing with an essential title for prog-folksters, Celtic fans, and those looking for soundtrack music for their next Dungeons and Dragons gathering. It should be noted that this album does not rock even to the extent that Gryphon or Willowglass can rock-yet it is so beautiful and engaging that you are not going to care. 8/10

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