VARIOUS GENRES

Since the early 1980s the See For Miles Records has specialized in releasing long lost artifacts from the past by compiling flotsam and jetsam of both unknown and more familiar bands as well as nurturing new fledgling talented artists. In the mid-80s the label released one of its most critically acclaimed and most popular series THE GREAT BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP which came out as four vinyl records or three CDs. Comparable to the US Nuggets series, this one focuses on the British 60s scene with the first two editions focusing on the more obscure artists who didn't exactly burn up the singles charts during their day but nevertheless captured the spirt and zeitgeist of era in ways that equalled or surpassed the most famous bands still known today.

THE GREAT BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP, VOL 1 1966-1969 begins the series with artists who existed concurrently with the more famous bands like The Who, The Pretty Things orThe Small Faces but never found any success in terms of exposure or sales for that matter. In fact most of these artists never even had the opportunity to release a single album with only a few singles that dotted their short-lived output. Despite the obscure nature of the artists on this compilation, none of which i was familiar with before encountering this psychedelic pop gem, these artists showcase exactly how many talented acts there were in the day crafting excellently constructed psychedelic baroque pop that stood up to the best of the era.

Also falling in line with the 60s marketing trends of confusing the public, there are actually two versions of this compilation released simultaneously with slightly different titles. The vinyl LP edition only featured 20 tracks and sported a different album cover as THE BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP (1966-1969) while the CD edition featured 26 tracks and was released as THE GREAT BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP, VOL 1. This was the result of the limitations of vinyl which split the series into four editions whereas the longer CD format fit everything snugly into three. While most of these tracks will be completely unfamiliar, a couple of them may jump out at you including The Flies' version of "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" best known as a Monkees single as well as The Californians' version of Warren Zevon's "Follow Me."

What this compilation succeeds in is revealing a completely unknown underground of the richness of the British music scene of the 1960s and although these tracks are psychedelic pop, like experimental artists like The Beatles, many were pushing boundaries while engaging in their trippy fuzz guitar sounds and Beach Boys style harmonies. While all the artists here could ostensibly be considered pop artists, the degree to which they aimed for the singles charts varied with clear missed hits with the sunshine pop "The Muffin Man" from World Of Oz to the more etheral, less commercial sounding track "Renaissance Fair" from Human Instinct. Others such as The Californians actually sound a lot like The Monkees. Overall this is an excellent collection of lost gems that will exhilarate those who can't get enough of 60s British psychedelic pop in the vein of The Pretty Things, The Beatles or The Move. Not every track is equally compelling but none are throwaways either. The two editions of each release are different enough they should be categorized as separate releases. Only 14 tracks appear on both formats. The rest are different. Track listing of each format:

THE BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP, VOL 1 (CD) 1 Turquoise - Tales of Flossie Fillet 2 Timebox - Baked Jam Roll in Your Eye 3 The Poets - In Your Tower 4 The 23rd Turnoff - Leave Me Here 5 World of Oz - The Muffin Man 6 Ice - So Many Times 7 The End - Shades of Orange 8 Ice - Ice Man 9 Cryin' Shames - Come on Back 10 Tintern Abbey - Vacuum Cleaner 11 The Virgin Sleep - Love 12 Turquoise - Saynia 13 Toby Twirl - Romeo and Juliet 14 Amazing Friendly Apple - Magician 15 Tintern Abbey - Beeside 16 The Flies - I'm Not Your Stepping Stonelyrics 17 The Accent - Red Sky at Night 18 Human Instinct - Renaissance Fair 19 The Cuppa T - Miss Pinkerton 20 Toby Twirl - Toffee Apple Sunday 21 Cherry Smash - Green Plant 22 The Californians - Follow Me 23 The Outer Limits - Just One More Chance 24 Les Sauterelles - Heavenly Club 25 Keith Shields - Deep Inside Your Mind 26 Al Stewart - The Elf

THE BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP (1966-1969) (Vinyl) A1 Turquoise - Tales of Flossie Fillett A2 The Attack - Created by Clive A3 Timebox - Baked Jam Roll in Your Eyes A4 The Poets - In Your Tower A5 The 23rd Turnoff - Leave Me Here A6 World of Oz - The Muffin Man A7 Ice - Anniversary (Of Love) A8 The End - Shades of Orange A9 Ice - Ice Man A10 The Fairytale - Run and Hide B1 Paul & Ritchie & The Cryin' Shames - Come on Back B2 Tintern Abbey - Vacuum Cleaner B3 The Virgin Sleep - Love B4 Turquoise - Saynia B5 Toby Twirl - Romeo and Juliet B6 Amazing Friendly Apple - Magician B7 Tintern Abbey Beeside B8 Fire - Father's Name Is Dad B9 The Flies - I'm Not Your Stepping Stone B10 The Accent - Red Sky at Night

Oh my...I would have never thought to see an album by the De Angelis brothers featured on PA. At the time of the release of this soundtrack they were quite famous, even if I think very few people had actually seen their faces, including myself.

They have spent almost their entire career making soundtracks other than few "one summer" hits on the disco music side.

Few words about Sandokan: it's a novel of the first years of the 20th century by an Italian writer who were used to write about exotic places like Malaysia, Indonesia and so on without having never left his town during all his life. The character is a pirate fighting against the British colonialists and in the movie it's interpreted by the Indian actor Kabir Bedi who in Italy became a sort of sex-symbol.

Said so, this soundtrack is a collection of short pieces written for the movie. There's a combat sequence, a love sequence but what is remarkable and had a great commercial success is the title track. It features a Sitar and has some Indian feeling. Probably it's the reason why somebody has considered it "progressive". Also the love theme can qualify in some ways.

The lyrics are what you can expect from the main title of a TV movie which was broadcasted in at least 5 parts, if I remember correctly, for about 8 total hours. In an age without internet and without streaming services, where people didn't have many choices, this soundtrack had a very lot of advertising.

I don't want to minimize the composing skill of the Oliver Onions, but sitar apart, I still don't see how this could be of any interest for a proghead.

I have to admit that if you blow the title track down any road in Italy, people would still recognize it. 2-stars is I think the appropriate rating.

Collectors of Italian movie soundtracks of the 70s only

One of the most regularly celebrated progressive rock albums came out in 1977, as the massive punk tsunami was about to wash away the "pompous and elitist flash rock", by none other than Anthony Phillips, who had left Genesis after the Trespass album (1970). It was the beautifully decorated "The Geese and the Ghost", artwork from Peter Cross and subsequently reprinted in 1981, 1988, 1990 as well as remastered in 2007, 2008 and 2015 (as a 2CD+DVD deluxe Edition). Not only has it stood the test of time, but its impeccable pastoral, vary English feel was incredibly unique and distinctive, rarely copied or emulated.

Well, that legacy has been perpetuated with "Which Way the Wind Blows- The Music of Anthony Phillips" 2019, a British tribute ensemble with all kinds of famous special guests, such as Steve Anderson, John and Steve Hackett, Noel McCalla, John Helliwell, Nick Magnus and Kate St-John, with more gorgeous Peter Cross artwork. I should be reviewing that one soon as well. In 2022, a dedicated German crew led by the Morgenstern family of Nina and Robin on vocals and multi-instrumentalist Tom, decided to invite a dozen or so guests, namely Steve Hackett (again!) as well as two members of Fauns, Jan-Peer Hartmann on guitars and flutist Kirsten Middeke. They put together a list of highlight tracks from the legendary and ongoing career of a gifted and humble musician worthy of the highest praise. To mirror the Phillips catalog, there are song-oriented tracks as well as instrumental workouts for which he is perhaps more infamous for.

One of the prettiest melodies ever to be found, "Sistine" develops a breezy little jewel that breathes tranquility and reverence, originally presented on the 1984 album "Private parts and Pieces IV; A Catch at the Tables". I could call this "Pristine" and not be criticized, a fluid simplicity that expresses the most genuine of sentiments. Robin's vocal is charmingly effective. Taken from the delightful New England album, "Sanctuary" offers precisely what the title implies, a sense of love longing for eternity, while "God If I Saw Her Now" is a highlight track from "the Geese and the Ghost", previously sung on demos by Ant as well as the rather awesome Phil Collins version on the album, which is a hard act to follow. Robin does another admirable effort here. The album "Dragonfly Dreams" proposes "She'll Be Waiting", another crystalline ballad that shimmers gently. The ghostly "Unheard Cry", the redolent "Stranger", "Lucy- An Illusion" with its majestic synth solo a la Tony Banks, "Moon's Lament for the Sun" and "Master of Time" are all more than meets the ear.

On the instrumental side of things, the prog fan will find quite a selection of sensational excerpts A fascinating piece of memorabilia on "F Sharp", as it was a 1969 demo sketch by Ant and Mike Rutherford that eventually was shaped into this arrangement, furthered into the eventual and instantly recognizable solo on the Musical Box, played by Steve Hackett. This alone is worth the price of admission, a glimpse into the inner workings of musicians creating a masterpiece, in the most natural way possible, hours of work and practice. Needless to state, Hackett does his usual magic here.

On the previously unreleased "Study No.1 in E Major" is Gereon Schoplick on solo classical guitar, very much in the Phillips tradition. A sensational piece is the "Salmon Leap" features a full band workout that jumps out at you (excuse the pun) like a fish out of water. This was part of "the Scottish Suite" from the stunning "Back to the Pavilion" recording which also sits very high in the Ant pantheon. From that same album, Gereon does another admirable turn on the 12-string loaded with reverb with "Postlude: End of the Season"

"Slow Dance" perennially sits in my all-time top 25 albums, often selected for Sunday morning play, the excerpt from Part 1 a subtle reminder just how great this album is played by reverential musicians who can recognize genius when asked to tackle the repertoire. Anthony has acknowledged this album with his usual humble demeanor, stating that many of the tracks chosen were improvements on the original.

4 Illuminations from the Incline.

Since the early 1980s the See For Miles Records has specialized in releasing long lost artifacts from the past by compiling flotsam and jetsam of both unknown and more familiar bands as well as nurturing new fledgling talented artists. In the mid-80s the label released one of its most critically acclaimed and most popular series THE GREAT BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP which came out as four vinyl records or three CDs. Comparable to the US Nuggets series, this one focuses on the British 60s scene with the first two editions focusing on the more obscure artists who didn't exactly burn up the singles charts during their day but nevertheless captured the spirt and zeitgeist of era in ways that equalled or surpassed the most famous bands still known today.

THE GREAT BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP, VOL 1 1966-1969 begins the series with artists who existed concurrently with the more famous bands like The Who, The Zombies orThe Small Faces but never found any success in terms of exposure or sales for that matter. In fact most of these artists never even had the opportunity to release a single album with only a few singles that dotted their short-lived output. Despite the obscure nature of the artists on this compilation, none of which i was familiar with before encountering this psychedelic pop gem, these artists showcase exactly how many talented acts there were in the day crafting excellently constructed psychedelic baroque pop that stood up to the best of the era.

Also falling in line with the 60s marketing trends of confusing the public, there are actually two versions of this compilation released simultaneously with slightly different titles. The vinyl LP edition only featured 20 tracks and sported a different album cover as THE BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP (1966-1969) while the CD edition featured 26 tracks and was released as THE GREAT BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP, VOL 1. This was the result of the limitations of vinyl which split the series into four editions whereas the longer CD format fit everything snugly into three. While most of these tracks will be completely unfamiliar, a couple of them may jump out at you including The Flies' version of "I'm Not Your Stepping Stone" best known as a Monkees single as well as The Californians' version of Warren Zevon's "Follow Me."

What this compilation succeeds in is revealing a completely unknown underground of the richness of the British music scene of the 1960s and although these tracks are psychedelic pop, like experimental artists like The Beatles, many were pushing boundaries while engaging in their trippy fuzz guitar sounds and Beach Boys style harmonies. While all the artists here could ostensibly be considered pop artists, the degree to which they aimed for the singles charts varied with clear missed hits with the sunshine pop "The Muffin Man" from World Of Oz to the more ethereal, less commercial sounding track "Red Sky At Night" from The Accent. Unlike the CD which featured some more avant-garde sounding acts, this one is pretty much strict psychedelic pop. Overall this is an excellent collection of lost gems that will exhilarate those who can't get enough of 60s British psychedelic pop in the vein of The Pretty Things, The Beatles or The Move. Not every track is equally compelling but none are throwaways either.

The two editions of each release are different enough they should be categorized as separate releases. Only 14 tracks appear on both formats. The rest are different. Track listing of each format:

THE BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP, VOL 1 (CD) 1 Turquoise - Tales of Flossie Fillet 2 Timebox - Baked Jam Roll in Your Eye 3 The Poets - In Your Tower 4 The 23rd Turnoff - Leave Me Here 5 World of Oz - The Muffin Man 6 Ice - So Many Times 7 The End - Shades of Orange 8 Ice - Ice Man 9 Cryin' Shames - Come on Back 10 Tintern Abbey - Vacuum Cleaner 11 The Virgin Sleep - Love 12 Turquoise - Saynia 13 Toby Twirl - Romeo and Juliet 14 Amazing Friendly Apple - Magician 15 Tintern Abbey - Beeside 16 The Flies - I'm Not Your Stepping Stonelyrics 17 The Accent - Red Sky at Night 18 Human Instinct - Renaissance Fair 19 The Cuppa T - Miss Pinkerton 20 Toby Twirl - Toffee Apple Sunday 21 Cherry Smash - Green Plant 22 The Californians - Follow Me 23 The Outer Limits - Just One More Chance 24 Les Sauterelles - Heavenly Club 25 Keith Shields - Deep Inside Your Mind 26 Al Stewart - The Elf

THE BRITISH PSYCHEDELIC TRIP (1966-1969) (Vinyl) A1 Turquoise - Tales of Flossie Fillett A2 The Attack - Created by Clive A3 Timebox - Baked Jam Roll in Your Eyes A4 The Poets - In Your Tower A5 The 23rd Turnoff - Leave Me Here A6 World of Oz - The Muffin Man A7 Ice - Anniversary (Of Love) A8 The End - Shades of Orange A9 Ice - Ice Man A10 The Fairytale - Run and Hide B1 Paul & Ritchie & The Cryin' Shames - Come on Back B2 Tintern Abbey - Vacuum Cleaner B3 The Virgin Sleep - Love B4 Turquoise - Saynia B5 Toby Twirl - Romeo and Juliet B6 Amazing Friendly Apple - Magician B7 Tintern Abbey Beeside B8 Fire - Father's Name Is Dad B9 The Flies - I'm Not Your Stepping Stone B10 The Accent - Red Sky at Night

"Au Phil de Naos - Hommage à un lutin Chantant" is a tribute to Philippe Mottée, singer of the french neo progressive band Naos. Phil had hoped for years that Naos would reform to release a third album of which a few tracks had been worked, but nothing was further than the demo level. Phil died in the middle of January 2022, and a few days later Dominique Marrion (from the group Raison de Plus) told me that Phil had sent him seven demo tracks from Naos, hoping that Raison de Plus could record them. With Eric Bonafoux, the last keyboardist of Naos, we decided to call on many musician friends to record these titles while respecting the models. This is how we find on this album all or part of the musicians from the French groups Raison de Plus, Controverse, Magnesis and JPL, and also musicians such as Pat Sanders (English band Drifting Sun), Jean-Philippe Suzan (Gens de la Lune), Dominique le Guennec (Mona Lisa), Achraf Elasraoui (Moroccan singer), Yon Gachet Chevalier and Thierry Bernier. We can hear Phil's singing accompanied by Lucien Pagano (guitarist of Naos) and his wife Marie as backing vocalists in the last track of the album. "Voyage" was taken from a low quality live recording, it was an acoustic track on which Phil sang over a few chords of Lucien's guitar. To have better quality and bring out Phil's voice, Didier Leveau digitally isolated the vocals, re-recorded an acoustic guitar track and added light keyboard layers. All the musicians agreed to work for free, as well as the talented Scottish painter Charlie Roy who created the visual for the album based on a screenshot taken from a video of Naos on stage.

Considered one of the best surfer flix of all time, MORNING OF THE EARTH is a 1972 Australian film by Alby Falzon and David Elfick which portrays surfers living in spiritual harmony with nature as they travel across the northeastern coast of Australia, Bali and Hawaii. While practically unknown outside of Australia, the film is considered there as one of the best Australian films ever made as it became an instant hit at the box office with sold-out shows for months after its release. The bold film was cutting edge in its editing and visual effects but more importantly offered a strong connection to the ecological ethos that was permeating the world at the beginning of the 1970s.

One of the greatest contributions to the success of the movie also came from the accompanying soundtrack which has been deemed one of the top 100 Australian albums of all time. The entire score was produced by G. Wayne Thomas and was originally intended to be entirely recorded by the Sydney based progressive folk band Tamam Shud but due to voice problems of the lead singer Lindsay Bjerre, the plans were changed to make the soundtrack a various artists affair. The soundtrack was released by Warner Brothers and was the first Australian soundtrack to sell over a million copies and be certified gold. So that tells you how big of a deal this movie and soundtrack were during its day.

The original release featured 12 tracks with three tracks from G. Wayne Thomas, three tracks from Tamam Shud, three tracks from Brian Cadd and a track each from Terry Hannagan, John J. Francis and Peter Howe. The 30th anniversary edition featured three more tracks that were in the film but left off the original soundtrack due to time limitations of the era. Although i haven't seen the actual film yet, the soundtrack is said to be the perfect backdrop for the films numerous surfing scenes and other powerful moments that helped captivate and entire nation's attention for a brief moment in time. Ironically the film delivered a strong narrative thread with no spoken words in the movie itself therefore relied heavily on the musical accompaniments to convey the intended emotive responses and in that regard the soundtrack delivers brilliantly.

The music on this one is more on the mellow side of things with straight forward Cat Stevens type folk music delivers by producer and songwriter G. Wayne Thomas to the more complex progressive folk gems performed by Tamam Shud. Although the soundtrack is rather subdued in its mood settings, somehow the tender melodies delivered through the sounds of country rock, blues, folk music and touches of progressive rock actually work quite well. All of the tracks are instantly catchy and the arrangements are brilliantly written. The lyrics are key to the movies narrative and also excel at capturing the spirit of the film's intent. The soundtrack has a good flow to it as well and the decision to employ the talents of many different artists adds a nice diversity to the overall impression.

Soundtracks are hit and miss with the majority working adequately with the film while watching it but more often than not don't hold up on their own. MORNING OF THE EARTH may have been a great flick in its own right but as it turns out the soundtrack is actually pretty good as well. Personally i like the more upbeat tracks such as Brian Cadd's "Sure Feels Good" or Tamam Shud's excellent "Bali Waters," even the folky hippie vibe tracks aren't bad either. This is definitely a nice slice of Australian talent collaborating for a unique perspective on spiritual connections to the Earth through the art of surfing. Perhaps a bit too much country folk to make it absolutely essential for me personally but definitely a brilliant album for what it delivers and those into this type of music will absolutely love it.

3.5 stars rounded down

"Well I wasnt expecting that !

You've made many of the tracks sound better than the original, especially the songs which sound much more commercial !

Great singing by your clan and superb playing throughout?.Don't know here to start really, difficult to single out any one player as all so very good ?..! F Sharp is extraordinary and Steve's solo scary !

You make me think i could have done a lot better !

It's a fabulous, brilliant and undeserved endeavour for which i can only thank you ALL deeply !

You've encouraged me to think more seriously (again !) of braving a large-scale album?Am still in demand in library world and others do depend on me in this area as well so a complex picture?..! Let's see"

Anthony Phillips, 8 January 2022 (e-mail was published with permission by the German Genesis fanclub)

— First review of this album —

We could see this film in theaters in April, and only two weeks later, it is now available in a specific retail drugstore in Quebec, at least! This is a box set with a DVD, Blu-ray, and free download for the audio only. This is the music of Harmonium played in 2022 by the Symphonic Orchestra of Montreal, a choir, a guitar player, and three vocalists who are special guests in three songs. The sound was loud and clear in the theater, far from the light sound of the band albums. The various instrumentation gives the music another dimension, a rich, full sound, and it helps to enjoy classical music. It is amazing to see in the booklet how many people worked on this production with 4 pages of credits! It's important to know that this is a movie with some visuals and theatrical elements. The stage settings had the help of someone from the Cirque du Soleil. We can see some characters on stage and in the air to illustrate some of the stories related to the music of Harmonium. In my home, it's impossible to have a better sound than at the theater, but on the other end, you can enjoy the 5.1 mix and the Atmos mix, which, for those who have the equipment, is well done. At the end of the show, there is an emotional moment in a special guest's presence. We can't see this classical tribute to the band's music as a replacement for the original version but a revisited take to bring some nostalgia 50 years later.

"Peter And The Wolf" comes across as a children's tale, which it is, set to music here by an all-star cast. It's not up to the standards of MOTHER GONG's "Fairy Tales" which also had it's stars but when you see some of the names listed out of the 20 something it's easy to be impressed. Led by the duo of Jack Lancaster who plays wind instruments along with violin and Robin Lumley the keyboardist who some will know from BRAND X. Jack by the way was in BLODWYN PIG at this point. These two guys wrote, arranged and produced this record and man what an undertaking with all of these musicians most involved with their own bands so getting them together must have been a challenge. This is 1975.

How many people saw this album in a record store and decided to buy it solely by who's playing on it? I mean no self respecting prog fan could put this back on the shelf could they? The main drummer is Phil Collins but we get brief appearances from Bill Bruford, Jon Hiseman and Cozy Powell. While Lumley takes care of most of the keyboards we get Keith Tippett playing piano and Brian Eno, Manfred Mann and Gary Brooker adding synths. Guitar? How about Alvin Lee, Gary Moore, Chris Spedding and John Goodsall. Percy Jones takes care of most of the bass duties but BLODWYN PIG member Andy Pyle helps out too. Violins and a lot of vocals and spoken words. And of course narration from Viv Stanshall and it's so well done. Really Julie Tipppetts and Bernie Frost are the only singers as only three tracks have singing although we get a choir on another tune but lots of character speakers here done by many of the musicians here.

The tracks average under 2 minutes as we go from scene to scene so not much time for the instrumentalists to show their skills. But this is about the story and it's well done in my opinion but honestly if I never hear it again so be it. The one track that stood out for me was "Wolf And Duck" at under 4 minutes and the one with Chris Spedding on it along with Eno, Collins and Jones. "Cat In Tree" is pretty good too but again this is more about the story, the lyrics. "Rock And Roll Celebration" is a disappointment, a shot at a single I guess. 3 stars.

One of the earliest chapters of the Finnish based Colossus Projects was the 2006 release, THE 7 SAMURAI: THE ULTIMATE EPIC which was the sixth epic adventure of concept albums of prog which in this case focused on the 1954 Japanese film by director Akira Kurosawa, "The 7 Samurais." This was the first release to feature a sole CD rather than a double disc set although maximizing the limitations of the physical format at a playing time of nearly 76 minutes.

This various artists compilation only features three sprawling tracks by the bands C.A.P. and Tapobran, both from Italy and the band Témprano from Venezuela. This album is dedicated to classic 1970s retro-prog with vintage keyboard sounds and a unified stylistic approach that borrows from early Genesis, ELP, Jethro Tull and the Italian greats like Banco and PFM. Each of the three tracks exceeds 22 minutes with the opening track by C.A.P. reaching a satisfying 27 minutes of symphonic prog splendor.

Consorzio Acqua Potabile (C.A.P.) starts the prog party with the sprawling 6-suite "Alla corte degli eroi - 1550, periodo Sengoku" which narrates the developments of the Samurai through endless variations based in the context of classic symphonic prog with additional references to Jethro Tull, King Crimson and especially Italian greats including Le Orme, Banco, Museo Rosenbach and just about anything else but the kitchen sink. This is one of the strongest tracks which is the most focused and features the most logical meandering through an endless series of developments. The segments while basically mini-tracks in their own right provide a logical procession although the actual Samurai references are nebulous and sparse. This track also features the most interesting vocalist at least for my ears.

The Venezuelan Témprano follows suit with a similar but distinct style as it nearly matches the longevity prowess of its processor. "The Farmers" which constitutes a mere four suites delivers the usual suspects for influences but also finds itself a bit less focused as far as meaningful movements and resorts to lengthy jamming extensions which tend to sound a little forced and at some points monotonous. Although not unlistenable by any means, just seems to be a step down from the opener and much more Genesis influenced with easily identifiable moments from classic pastoral sounds and Hackett inspired guitar tactics. Some jazzy moments are scattered about and the track sounds a bit more vintage.

The final track "The Bandits" by Tapobran likewise extends over the 20-minute mark surpassing the 22 minute demarcation. This track is segmented into four suites and offers some of the more overt rocking performances with heavier guitar moments and keyboard heft that will please fans of Emerson, Lake & Palmer's more brash moments. Being Italian there are plenty of references to the Italian greats of the era as well as moments of actual Japanese references making it the most identifiable as something that refers to the concept, something these Colossus Projects tend to make secondary in emphasis. While the track is the shortest, it offers more of a condensed punch in many regards and suits a more dramatic ending.

Overall this isn't as consistent as some Colossus releases yet quite excellent when taken as a whole. This is one of those pomp and awe type of prog album that many will cite as endless noodling but if an infinite roster of variations and thematic changes are your bailiwick then this will not disappoint. All three bands show an excellent display of tackling classic 70s prog and making it their own and despite an immeasurable wealth of influences on board, each band delivers a distinct flavor that far exceeds mere copycatting. For lovers of sprawling epic prog compositions, this is prog heaven however anyone allergic to these types of excess best stand clear. Personally i love it.