THE TREE

Some minutes ago i reviewed a portuguese album and i said that my knowledge about that country's music was very limited, this time is the same, right now i could not name more than 4 bands from Belgium i know, being the main one Univers Zero, but well this time i found an album of this 70s band called Nessie which does not have anything to do with chamber music or RIO, it is (was) a symphonic prog band.

And to be honest to you, i actually dont know more about Nessie, so i will only review the album without giving you a background of the band, as i use to do in the most of my reviews. This second album called The Tree was released in 1977 and is a very short one with 29 minutes of music, there are some half an hour awesome albums like Profondo Rosso by Goblin, so the duration is not always the most important thing, this album ends so fast that you may not notice it.

It has 7 songs, the first 2 are the long ones and the rest are basically a 3-minute song.

Gold Digger Ghost opens the album and let us know that they had an influence from bands like Barclay James Harvest or Pavlov's Dog, actually this very first song reminds me a lot to Pavlov's Dog, not for the vocals but because of the music, and despite being a Belgian band they decided to sing in English, maybe in order to have more recognition in the world musical scene. This song is good, nice music with mellotron and a great drumming. The Tree is the next one and opens very soft with a delicate flute sound, then vocals enter and actually there are some harmony vocals, the song is very soft and catchy, the drums and flute make the base and as background we will listen to the keyboards, nice song but not the best, actually i think the best was the previous one, this song finishes with some kind of vocal harmonic chants. Love Dreamer start is almost the same as the final part of the previous song, and after some 40 seconds it changes to a faster time and tempo song, a bit rockier and very reminiscent to BJH in some moments, the final part is more interesting, with a nice bass base and the keys solo. The Weapon Begins with some screams reminding me to some 60s American rock or blues bands, then it turns instrumental with some good bass lines and drums, then the vocals returns and in moments i find them to be a bit annoying, in this song for instance i would have prefered a completely instrumental one. Vivid Memories as the other songs have some vocal harmonies, and a delicate symphonic sound without being the most complex thing, it doesn't sound bad at all, sometimes the music sounds very classic or even cautios as if they were afraid of create something better and more original. The World of the Tree opens with a beautiful flute and synth sound and then it turns to what basically the album is, easy symphonic prog, soft and calm music synth as background, not the best vocal performance and some backing vocals, the part where the flute enters actually gives something different to the music, if the flute doesn't sound, the music may become boring and monotonous. Rumble of Drums is the last song of this short album and actually is the shortes song with only 2 minutes, it opens with some spoken word like orders of the sargeant and then a march drumming, the song sounds like a goodbye.

The album is not that bad, but is repetitive and monotonous sometimes, i may give 3 stars to it but i am not that enthusiastic with it, i think there are hundreds of better albums than this one, 2.5 may be the best, but this time i won't feel satisfied if i don't qualify it with 2 stars. Not bad and non-essential.

Anyway, enjoy it!

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