ARKUS

A rather mysterious band formed in the city of Nieuwegein sometime in the late 1970s, ARKUS just kind of snuck in its debut album before the English neo-proggers got their bearing and then disappeared as quickly as it arrived. Strangely the band has periodically reformed and dropped a second album in the 90s and another in 2003. The lineup featured Frans Smits (vocals, guitar), Ron Willems (guitar), Jan-Henk Wiggelinkhuizen (strings, organ, synthesizers), John Bouwman (bass, vocals) and Erik van Duin (drums, percussion, vocals).

While sounding more like an English band than any prog rock that came from the Netherlands, ARKUS evoked more of a post-Gabriel Genesis stance rather than the theatrical early English neo-prog bands. More Camel and even Pink Floyd than Marillion so to speak and as much classic symphonic prog as early neo only the dreamy pastoral kind. The band's debut 1914 was a concept album based on a poem written by Dutch poet and translator Bert Voeten. The original album featured seven tacks at 38 1/2 minutes long.

The band delivered a competent slice of early neo-prog and 1914 is actually quite pleasant. It's a dreamy airy affair with softy strummed 12-string guitars in conjunct with those classic Hackett inspired lead guitar sweeps and a thick synthesized atmospheric back drop. The bassist cops a Pink Floyd feel as have many neo-prog bassists throughout the decades and lead vocalist Frans Smits delivered a smooth competent vocal style that while not the cream of the crop was better than many of the neo-prog acts that could often sound atrocious. The compositions are all fairly consistent and the melodies are catchy from the getgo.

Despite its obscure nature and relative difficult status as an easy to obtain collectible, the album was reissued on CD with a couple bonus tracks. Overall this is a fairly decent slab of primeval neo-prog that didn't even emerge from the British Isles and if ARKUS had stuck it out for the long haul perhaps could've been a contender of best bands of the era but as it stands the album isn't perfect and could've used some spicing up as the formula is set to cruise control and the members needed to hone their chops a bit more for prime time. A nice little obscurity bin but there's a reason this one lingers in the shadows behind the bigwigs of the era.

1. "Ouverture" (4:09) opens with slow build temple-like cymbal crescendo before relaxed 4/4 blues rock groove is established for synths and melodic fuzzy guitar to lead over. I'm strongly reminded of the sounds and a particular melody that TRION used in "Frank." Nice but nothing extraordinary. (8/10)

2. "Life" (7:34) opens with a slow guitar melody that gets double-timed as the full band joins in at the 0:30 mark jumping into a full rock band mode. Lead electric guitar enters and solos melodically until 1:20 when vocals join in. The guitar solos through the fourth minute, before a break allows someone to do the dishes before a reset button starts the song over and everything starts over, slow to fast, before slowing down for the final section over which the guitar solos. (12.33/15)

3. "Scared" (6:38) opens with picked acoustic guitar (12 string?). This guitar remains--more prominent than on any other song on the album. Despite the same voice and vocals, same synth washes and the same melodic noodling of the same electric guitar sound, this is a nice song. (8.5/10)

4. "No Chance" (8:19) slow electric guitar arpeggi opens this one while a different (effect?) singer sings. The song literally starts over, music and lyric, at the 4:15 mark, slow and sparse, slowly building. The seventh minute is nice but the fast-speed finish from the eighth minute is predictable. (16.5/20)

5. "Adorable Woman" (6:06) boring. Except the bass play. (8.25/10)

6. "1914" (5:40) opens as a simple, almost Folk Rock song sung in English until at 2:48 a proggy soundscape establishes itself. It's the opening song, "Overture"! Exactly! Same nice melody riff from the same sounding lead guitar. It's Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane"! Chords and melody! (8.5/10)

Total time 38:26

My biggest complaint with this album is that the band relies heavily on synth washes to provide background for every moment of every song and on one particular sound for its constantly soloing lead guitar--which results in there being very little variety in the album's sound palette from song to song. They're nice sounds--definitely derived from the 1976 post-Peter Gabriel GENESIS sound palette, but there needs to be more. Plus, the singing is rather lackluster and the lyrics rather banal.

C+/3.5 stars; a pleasant enough sounding album that, in the end, is too simple and . . . just too simple.

Wrapped under a very sensitive atmosphere Arkus played soft guitar-driven Symphonic Rock with emphasis on smooth guitar playing, melodic solos and elaborate arrangements.They seemed much influenced by CAMEL and recall at moments fellow natives ODYSSICE with Smits and Willems taking over the situation and delivering series of mindblowing, dramatic solos with a solid rhythm section in the background.The keyboard work of Wiggelinkhuizen remains in the background as well, filling up the empty holes for the guitarists and occasionally offering some nice passages.Vocals are in English and they are delivered with heart and emotion in a sensitive style.

Arkus were soon abandoned by the manager with large financial debts on their backs, eventually slowing down their career, though the band kept playing live.In early-90's, at a time when the band was back alive and well, ''1914'' was reissued in CD format by SI Music with a pair of bonus tracks from the early days.Both show the band insisting on playing a warm Neo/Symphonic Rock with delicate and impressive guitar work, but ''Don't break the silence'' contains also some nice synthesizer parts not unlike the bands of the New Wave of British Prog.

Many of these guitar-based prog albums rely much on how good the melodies contained are.Arkus did it very well and if you are into Neo Prog, light Symphonic Rock or even Melodic Rock, ''1914'' is a great purchase.Go for the CD reissue due to the nice pair of extra compositions.