THE BORDER OF AWARENESS

Apogee is a solo project of Versus X-guitarist Arne Schäfer,a dedicated Classic Prog fan.While playing in various bands and eventually finding his Ithaca on Versus X,Arne was composing and recording his own material on a two-track tape.Meeting the guys on Musea through his regular band,Arne sent them his self-produced material and so Apogee was born.Musea decided to release Apogee's first solo output under the title ''The Border of Awareness'' in 1995,a year after Versus X self-titled debut, containing material Arne wrote between 1989 and 1994.

The German musician (and professional chemist) handles all bass,guitars and keyboards,sings and uses drum samples on this album,which contains four long numbers of Classic Prog-influenced music along with a short one.While I will pass by Arne's voice,which is decent but a bit accented,I won't do the same with the more than fine musicianship.The tracks are full of great guitar work,grandiose keyboard passages,sudden breaks,mellow moments and atmospheric passages to fullfill every prog fan's dream.Influences are diverse but definitely through the Classic Prog era: GENESIS, YES, KING CRIMSON, VAN DER GRAAF GENERATOR, PINK FLOYD and the list goes on.And while Arne is a more than talented guitarist as we know them from Versus X,he surprisingly prooves to be an excellent keyboardist as well.I do not know his exact equipment but I can detect sounds from organ,moog synths and church organ among the common digital synths used,which make his work trully varied. Orchestral passages, spacey synths, organ solos, even electronic soundscapes are some of the great instrumental parts you can listen to ''The Border of Awareness''.And Arne achieved to keep a good balance between the vocal-based parts and the dramatic instrumental music on this.

While ''The Border of Awareness'' will never find itself among the personal and original releases of progressive rock,it is certainly a great album, defining the meaning of progressive rock and offering long cuts of impressive and intricate music.Strongly recommended...3.5 stars.