MIRAGE

I am going to have a hard time reviewing this album because it contains one of my favorite songs from symphonic rock - Nimrodel. The rest of the album has some very nice parts, but also has some parts that aren't so great, mainly the whole second side. The musicians are skilled, but the music is not overly complex. The singing isn't exactly the best in the world, but it is still good and I think very good in Nimrodel. Now, onto the album.

Freefall is a nice, strong opener. At the same time it sounds somewhat straight forward and just not very progressive. In the middle of the song is a really great repeating guitar riff, which I find to be the best part of the song. Next up is Supertwister which is actually my second favorite track on the album. This is an amazing and somewhat subdued instrumental that is very flute heavy. As part of the percussion, we get the repeating sound of a pop bottle cap being twisted (you know, that fizzy sound). The middle section of the song really slows down to create a dreamlike atmosphere accentuated by the swelling flute melodies. Andy Latimer is one heck of a flute player. The song ends with a bottle of pop being opened and poured into a glass (not someone peeing - geez?!)

The following song is what I would call an Essential Song of Progressive Rock. Nimrodel of course is about Gandolf from Lord of the Rings. The lyrics are pretty sparse but still very good. The beginning of the song has some guitar appregios along with keyboard (moog?) melody that is very haunting; this sets the stage. The next section is a fanfare that builds up into the most satisfying entry of drums, bass, mellotron, and guitar that is very regal sounding (entrance of Gandolf). I love the guitar melodies here. The next section picks up speed and starts out with heavier guitar laying down various melodies and then the keyboards take over. This moves into yet another section that is closer to the first section with lyrics. The last section is kind of unexpected: a killer bassline that has that "bottom-feeder" feel to it (think Stranglehold by Ted Nugent). Everything about Nimrodel is top-notch: great guitar melodies, nice flute interludes, excellent drumming, and everything just works together.

Now, I must say that the second side of the album is most dissapointing. Earthrise is another instrumental that is basically a series of keyboard and guitar solos with some repeating melodies. The tempo builds speed throughout the song. Ultimately, I don't find the playing to be very interesting and I usually skip this track. Lastly is Lady Fantasy, which is over 12 minutes in length. This song does not need to be this long. The song basically starts out heavy, mellows out, picks up the tempo slightly, then mellows out even more. The song gradually gets softer and more mellow until the end which again is very heavy and probably the best part of the whole song. THere are of course a ton of guitar solos, tempo changes, and maybe a few keyboard solos. All of the the solos and various tempos become sort of mixed together and just really are not all that interesting. Some of the lyrics remind me of Moonchild ("saw you walking on a whirlpool..."). The middle of the song really drags on and on. This is not a horrible song, but it just doesn't make you want to listen to it over and over.

When I listen to Mirage I usually just listen to the first side, which is very good. Even though Mirage contains the great Nimrodel, I can only give this album three stars, due to the weak second half of the album.