BEYOND THE CLEAR AIR

3.5 stars. MIDAS are a Symphonic band out of Japan and have had a 30 year career although they have only released a half dozen studio albums and a couple of live recordings. This is their debut from 1988 and the only one with Japanese lyrics I believe. A four piece band with the singer adding violin then a bass/keyboard/drum setup. The violin and keyboards tend to be the lead instruments and while I'm not a big fan of the vocals they never seem to stay around very long. I'm not a big fan of the drums either but I like the bass and at times keyboards the most.

There's some good interplay between the violin and synths which is entertaining and we do get some power here usually with the organ involved in that especially the very start of the album. The synths feel so 80's on that opener and it's where I felt the drums sounded off the most. Man these guys hit us with two mammoth tracks in "The Slough Of Despond" at 15 1/2 minutes and the closer, the title track at almost 19 minutes.

A good album but I've had my head in Symphonic all Summer and this just doesn't measure up even though I have an appreciation for it. I actually picked this up because it was released in 1988 a weak year hoping for some light, and it gives that.