THE RIVER - BOTH SIDES OF THE STORY

Review #7 Marco De Angelis is an Italian composer, multi-instrumentalist and producer, who although was involved in the music business for many years, never released any album under his name, and this is his first personal solo work.

Because he grew up listening mostly to the great bands of the '70's such as Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Genesis, Yes etc, we can assume that his music will be influenced by this sound. Well, not exactly. His sound is modern & fresh, and although it can remind - in certain occasions - some other bands, the truth is that his music style has a rather personal style.

During the recording of the album, he played most of the instruments (with the exception of drums) and he participates in backing vocals as well. The singer is Marcello Catalano, and his voice matches the music and the style of the album very well. A very strong point worth mentioning is the backing vocals throughout the whole album. Marco De Angelis uses a very good female team doing the backing vocals, and the result is indeed very good.

Now a few info about the album: It contains 11 songs, plus 1 very small intro piece, and has a total running time of almost 67 minutes. The instruments on which the album is based mostly are keyboards and guitar, and this combination works perfectly. As for the influences I mentioned earlier, in my opinion the ones I could find would be the sound of Pink Floyd in their latest (mainly) albums such as 'A Momentary Lapse of Reason' or 'The Division Bell'. (In the song 'Take it Away' for example).

Another very important fact I have to mention is that the album is actually a concept one. Starting from the title, 'The river' refers to the people's lifes as they flow like the river does, and the sub-title 'Both sides of the Story' stands for the two river banks which represent in a way the duality which all human beings exist. The struggle between Good & Evil, the male & female life's point of view, life & death, night and day, etc? It is a really interesting idea, which is covered nicely by the music of Marco De Angelis.

Concluding this review I have to say that it is a good album, and very pleasant to listen to. My rating would be 3.0 stars...