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Tower - Tales From A Book Of Yestermorrow CD (album) cover

TALES FROM A BOOK OF YESTERMORROW

Tower

 

Neo-Prog

2.83 | 11 ratings

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Finnforest
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars Attention keyboard fanatics!

Tower is the brainchild of Arti & Mestieri's original keyboardist Beppe Crovella. He composed this collection of songs called "Tales from a Book of Yestermorrow" and it is an unusual progressive album to say the least.

There is no guitarist or bass player to be found. Beppe on keys is joined only by drummer Elio Rivagli and famed Italian vocalist Paola Mei. The threesome manage such a well-rounded sound that even a guitar lover such as myself is able to appreciate the album. For keyboard fanatics this is a dream come true. Here is the list of instruments that Beppe employs here: Hammond, piano, Minimoog, Mellotron, Wurlitzer, Roland JD 800, Prophet T8, Emu III XP, and Vintage keys.

The music is not the jazzy rock that comes to mind when I think of Arti. It seems to attempt a mixture of different neo prog rock elements that are quite dramatic and theatrical and occasionally uses experimental sounds to inject a modern feel. Ms. Mei's amazing vocal skills bring much emotion and loveliness to the songs, bring them to another level. Her vocal style might be a little Diva-ish for some but I took to it rather swiftly with no problem. The standout tracks for me are "Ann" with its lovely melodic piano lines, punchy drumming, and great vocal. "The Box" is really wild with its trippy sound effect samples that rattle your brain and make great test music for your stereo speakers. The closer "Rondo" is also stunning. An instrumental feast that will amaze you at what two people can do. Fast paced and finesse in every direction with monster drum fills and a Gentle Giant feel.

Here is how Beppe describes the project in a short blurb from his website: "The idea behind this album is to expand song ideas into progressive compositions, like for example Yes did with Simon and Garfunkel's America, that in fact was a kind of folk song, that they re-arranged to make a complete prog compositions. Sometimes songs comes out naturally into a prog composition, other times they are or can be the starting point to build a new composition around this main song, other examples in this sense were 'Take a Pebble' or ' Lucky man'. So, focusing this relationship between song and prog composition was the main idea with lot of variations, that's the basic starting point for this project." [Beppe Crovella website].

Recommended to keyboard nuts and majestic dramatic vocal oriented prog with a sound that is all its own. Although I'm not necessarily either of those and I've taken quite a liking to this project. It's another rather obscure title that turned out to be very unique and enjoyable. Don't just buy the oft-written about hot albums of the month, go deep and take some chances!

Finnforest | 3/5 |

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