THE SPAGHETTI EPIC 2 - THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY

I have greatly enjoyed these Colossus releases, and this is no exception.

I will say though, that this one did not appeal to me as much as previous ones have (with the exception of Kalevala.......which, while having a lot of good material also contained much patchier stuff as well). However, repeated listens have made me appreciate it a good deal more.

One of the things that may have contributed to a slight drop in quality is the fact that the Randone composition was a hurried, last minute affair. This was due to the death of Haikara main man Vesa Lattunen, half way through the writing and recording of their piece that was supposed to be the opening track. Randone agreed to fill in, and had much less time than normal to complete and submit their piece. Despite this, they still managed to create an enjoyable prog epic, in the Italian style, though it doesn't reach the heights for me that their track on the previous Spaghetti Epic did.

La Voce Del Vento, the name given to the duo of Andy Tillison and Guy Manning, deliver a very solid contribution, though again, this seems a bit less satisfying than their previous contribution. It definitely seems that Guy Manning was the one responsible for this suite, as the style seems much more in line with his solo work, with Tillison taking much less of a role in the composition and performance (this was confirmed by Manning, who says that this composition was primarily his, with Tillison adding in some ideas to the finished piece). As a side note, Colossus lets us down just a bit by leaving out the bulk of the lyrics to this piece in the booklet. An oversight that is a first in my experience. Again though, repeated listens reveal that this is still a high quality prog suite. I just think that the previous one was more enjoyable, sounding like a much more collaborative work that blended the strengths of these two fine artists very well.

Tilion's piece is my favorite here, though I could understand if others disagreed. The piece has a much more avant-garde sound, with far more dissonance and strangeness than the previous pieces. The vocals, as well, might be a bit hard to take for more sensitive listeners. For myself, I find them excellent and obviously delivered by a very skilled vocalist whose tone and style appeal to me. The song is well constructed and excellently played, the bassist and vocalist being the standout musicians for me. All in all, a very satisfying, albeit strange, piece of music.

As usual, the packaging is excellent (aside from the missing lyrics mentioned above) and maintains the high standard of previous releases, with the incredibly thick booklet giving detailed information about the film the music is based on, and recording details and lyrics for all compositions (with English translations for the Italian lyrics of the first and third tracks).

On the whole, this doesn't quite appeal to me as much as the previous Spaghetti Epic, but still rates a solid 3.5 stars. I'll round down since this is not a standard band album, and because I don't want to give it the same ranking as the previous album. But if you enjoy the other Colossus releases, this is well worth getting.