FROM LAND TO OCEAN

For my 400th review I wanted to pick a special album and it became this one. It's special because of the presence of one of the longest songs in prog history, the only track on the second disc clocking 52 minutes. This 7th album by Galleon can easily be regarded as the magnum opus in their discography. It's the classiest release, their only double cd and it also shows in the number of ratings, 29 by far the most. The only thing that does not prove my statement is the average rating (3,52) which is surpassed by quite some other albums by Galleon, albeit that they have far less number of reviews.

The first track is one I'm familiar with for a long time by now because it's a stream song here on PA and I checked this one out already in 2004. I was impressed, I had just one album by them at the time (Heritage and Visions) and that one never did much for me. But this lengthy track was a different story. It is a classy, distinguished sounding track as so often containing critical lyrics against humanity. The build up is magnificent, the song consists of three parts that follow each other prefectly. The production is excellent is immediately evident. Keyboards shine in this great overture. 4,25*.

Fall of Fame is a much more rocking song, a bit heavy and again with very fine keyboard contributions. The song clocks almost 10 minutes and is less impressive as a composition than previous track. Still some variation, such as after 3 minutes when a funky instrumental part takes place. The funky idea is caused by the guitar that almost sounds like in a 70's soul song. Interesting feature. Rest of the song rocks on. 4*.

Third is The Porch which is a ballad handling about a man who sits on his porch contemplating about things in life. Again the production is what strikes me most. Wonderful sound, the song is just ok. 3,25*.

Liopleurodon is a terrific instrumental with organ like keys and guitar alternating. It's an energetic track with great melodies and nice rhythm and mood changes, especially the one halfway the song works very nice for me. One of the higlights on the doubler for me. 4,5*.

So far it has been very interesting variation on this album where the type of song is concerned. I think we've had them all by now. 5th track, Land, also has something the others didn't have so far, which is the presence of the flute. It's an average song compared to the others though the flute makes up for this with some nice contributions giving the song an almost medieval feel in the second half of the song. Also here the lyrics are sharp and critical. 3,25*.

Solitude is a moving song about lonely people who lost their love ones. It's the second ballad of the album, to me slightly better than the first one mainly caused by a very nice guitar solo towards the end. 3,5*.

With last song of the first disc, The Price, we return to the style of the second song. This is also quite heavy, energetic and rocking. Highlight within this almost epical track is the instrumental part that starts after a few minutes and lasts till the second half of the song which is a bit less for me except for the impressive finale last two minutes. 4,25*.

Second disc is called the Ocean is the enormous epic I was talking about. In a way this reminds me of Waiting for Cousteau by Jean Michel Jarre, especially the start reminds me of it. Later on the song gets much more substance than the 45 minute JMJ track because that one kept on going like the first two minutes of this Ocean story. Another big difference is the presence of vocals here. Still I have the feeling this long one never really breaks loose like I actually hoped before I ever heard it. After about 5 minutes keyboard and guitar start a small duel but it hardly lasts one minute. For the next minutes the vocals dominate getting impressive after 8 minutes. After nine an up tempo instrumental part lasting almost three minutes and probably the strongest part of the epic. After this the vocals return and the epic quiets down completely again, at least until the 21st minute when a short guitar solo intervenes, after this the song goes on in its laid back vein. In the 26th minute another very fine guitar effort, second highlight of the epic. After 35 minutes the song goes through its next eruption but this doesn't last long, the song falls back into the quietness of the beginning, then revives again for about the 4th time. Could this be a metaphor for us humans always getting a second chance to live on and save the planet (what this whole album is actually about). Anyway, I can go on and on describing this huge epic but it will start to bore I'm afraid. It's an impressive compositional performance all in all by Galleon making this the magnum opus I was talking about. 4,25*.

Final words: in the end I like the first cd better than the second. Galleon have surpassed themselves with this release and it will be hard to top this in the future. Well, as I say this, I also know the successor and that's not bad at all either, just not as historical as this one. This whole effort reminds me a lot of The Empire album by Galahad who also did an unexpected incredible performance all over sudden. And in the end this gets the same score for me. 4 stars very well deserved and slightly better even. Highly recommended for all neoproggers.