Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Grand Stand - In The Middle, On The Edge CD (album) cover

IN THE MIDDLE, ON THE EDGE

Grand Stand

 

Symphonic Prog

4.00 | 35 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Tarcisio Moura
Prog Reviewer
4 stars I stumbled upon this album completely by chance. A friend lend me a bunch of CDs and Grand Stand's debut was among them. Lucky me! If I knew it was a guitarless record I would probably not try too hard to listen to it. Being a guitarrist myself I am not particularly fond of keyboards/drums only records. But I've got to admit you don't really miss any other instruments while listening to In The Middle, On The Edge. Besides, this work is far from just another pointless display of virtuosity like so many I've heard before.

The first thing I noticed it the fact that Olov Andersson is not only a fantastic player, but also a good songwriter. Every track is a mini epic on its own. And every note is on the right place, Judging by what I read in Grand Salm's biography, their music is utterly influenced by Genesis. This is not what you hear here, really, at least for my ears. Sure, some of Peter Gabriel's former band influences are evident, but the CD is far from derivative. In fact I found his compositions very pleasant, creative and original. The closest thing I can compare with is the very fine dutch combo Trion, which also uses a lot of analog sounding keyboards as the core of their music. It is hard to believe this piece of work was so recently recorded, for it sounds too much like something coming straight from prog's heyday in the early 70's. And, make no mistake, this is a big compliment.

The first three tracks are good, but the truly gems are the ones from the fourth onwards like the brilliant Triumphant Forrest Going Frenzy and, specially, Minor Mischiefs In Big Ways, an 8 minute masterpiece . All songs are instrumentals and I must say you don't miss any singing either. The production is very good, even if the drums seem to be recorded a little too loud for my taste on some parts, but that's something I can live with. Like any great prog record, the more you listen the more you enjoy it. Brilliant.

If you like very fine, tasteful prog instrumental music, with lots of vintage keyboards this CD is highly recommended. Another nice surprise from Sweden! My rating is somewhere 4 and 4.5 stars.

Tarcisio Moura | 4/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this GRAND STAND review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.