THE SONGS & TALES OF AIROEA

A triple album set is always a risky investment, particularly with the price tag attached with this ambitious conceptual project by The Chronicles of Father Robin. Even more typical triple albums like George Harrison's All Things Must Pass (which is easily the most commercially successful triple album ever), Carla Bley's Escalator on the Hill, and of course Yes' Yessongs and ELP's Welcome Back My Friends will be more spendy than a standard single album (or double albums), but nowhere as cost prohibitive as The Songs & Tales of Airoea. But if you don't want to risk it, or can't afford it, Karisma Records is releasing each disc separately (also on CD for those who don't own a turntable but still want a solid format to listen to it on). So far Karisma has only released the first installment, Book I: The Tales of Father Robin. I originally thought I couldn't afford the box set, but turned out I was able to save money, took the plunge, and bought it, as Karisma Records still had a few unsold copies left. Let me tell you, the packaging is nothing short of amazing. Each vinyl pressed on translucent colored vinyl, each a different cover. It includes a big booklet that tells you the concept, as well as the making of the box set, not to mention the lyrics. It also comes with a map as well, depicting (what else) the land of Airoea. My copy is the second run as the box is not as fat as it doesn't come with a T-shirt. I didn't need the T-shirt anyways as I wouldn't know if it would fit me. It took them nearly 30 years to complete this project. You thought Guns n' Roses took forever to finish and release Chinese Democracy, The Songs & Tales of Airoea takes the cake. I can understand the length, because members became awfully busy with their various bands. The main nuclues of the band was vocalist Andreas Wettergreen Strømmen Prestmo (of Wobbler), drummer Henrik Harmer, and bassist Jon Andre Nilsen. Many more musicians make their appearance here like Lars Fredrik Frøislie (Wobbler, White Willow, In Lingua Mortua), Håkon Oftung (Jordsjø, Tusmørke), Kristoffer Momrak (Tusmørke, Alwanzatar) and many more appear on these three discs. Karisma also states that drummer Martin Nordrum Kneppen of Wobbler and Tusmørke appears, but he doesn't appear on this set, perhaps he played with them live.

OK, so here are the discs: Book I: The Tales of Father Robin I did a review for the separate entry, so see my review there. I totally raved about that disc. It's no doubt the msot keyboard-heavy of the three discs, mainly because Lars Fredrik Frøisle has his presence felt. It's also the heaviest with plenty of metallic guitar riffs, but there's plenty of more calm passages as well for breather time. It also has the lengthiest compositions of any of the three discs, with the re-recorded "Twilight Fields" clocking at over 15 minutes.

Book II: Ocean Traveller Clearly going for a calmer approach as "Over Westwinds" and "Orias and the Underwater City" demonstrates. The latter features some nice use of an early drum machine as well. I like how "Ocean Traveller" picks up with those nice ascending riffs. The latter half of this disc is heavier, but the disc does start deceptively calm with "Lady of Waves", but then it gets more heavy. There a King Crimson feel to "Green Refresments" while the Tull influence is shown on "The Great Riff", with the flute dominating.

Book III: Magical Chroncile "Magical Chornicle" is truly the highlight of this disc, with some great vocal harmonies that were clearly both Yes and Gentle Giant inspired. "Skyslumber" is definitely more calm. Same goes for "Cloudship", but in this case they go for that Yes feel, reminding me of Steve Howe's playing on "And You and I", that and Jon Anderson's Olias of Sunhillow. "Empress of the Sun" and "Lost in the Pace Gardens" are more lively, with the latter having a bit of that 1960s folk influence.

There is a lot of music to absorb here, but it's amazing with a triple album that there were no boring parts. That's because when you take 30 years to make an album (or three in this case) you get time to record and pick out the best The concept is better described by others, it's best to read the booklet if you own the box set. So for average collectors, get each installment as they come, but the music is great and it's certainly one of the great retro Norwegian albums.

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