STARSHIP UNIVERSE

Mike Visaggio is a keyboard player based in Virginia, USA; and Starship Universe is his debut solo album. But although this is his solo debut, Visaggio has an extensive background as a band musician, being involved in numerous bands from the late 60's until the mid eighties, and then returning to the scene after the millennium after a 20 year long hiatus from making and performing music. And it is easy to hear that he still is a skilled musician, despite his long hiatus from the scene.

Musically the classic prog bands from the 70's; Yes, Genesis and ELP are named as some of his influences. And the musical output on this album has a distinct 70's sound to it, in style as well as in production and mix. Of his named influences, ELP may arguably have had the greatest impact on the music on Starship Universe but other influences will most probably be noticed by listeners more familiar with 70's prog than myself. The music here is all keyboard based, which generally is a weakness. Even the best of melodies will sound better performed by "real" instruments than they do from keyboards alone, and Mike's music do suffer a bit from it. The mixing and production isn't high tech either, which may be off-putting for some.

In many aspects this release reminds me of the German one-man band Soniq Theater, both play symphonic prog heavily influenced by the 70's in general and ELP in particular. The main difference between the two is that Visaggio not too often emulates other instruments, while Sonic Theater emulates other instruments in most songs. And of course the vocals; Soniq Theater is a mostly instrumental project, whereas Visaggio does have vocals on quite a few songs.

And that last element will affect some potential buyers decision about getting this release or not. In my ears the pitch and timbre of Visaggio's voice too often sounds wrong, and I could have sworn (although my better half with a long choir background disagrees) that the vocals are off-key with the melody a few times too many. Visaggio has an ok voice, but somehow the vocals just don't sound right to me.

Apart from that, there are some cool songs here, with the cover of ELP's "Blues Variation" being the most interesting. And if you are a fan of retro-sounding symphonic prog, this could be worth checking out. Sound samples can be found at Mike's homepage as well as on CDBaby, so that you can hear for yourself whether or not this music is to your liking.