THE SPAGHETTI EPIC

I am glad Musea gives the listener more for the buck on these concept albums. If one is fortunate, one may be able to get 3 or 4 epic songs by one band, but here we have 6 long ones by six different bands that all sound very proficient at their craft. It is a real pleasure to hear bands from other countries apply their trade in such effective ways.

This concept is taken from the western "Once Upon a Time in the West" starring Charles Bronson, and Henry Fonda, among many other fine actors and actresses. I thought the music made the characters larger than life and much more dramatic than the film did. This album outdoes the film hands down.

Haikara starts it off with "The West." It is an overview of sorts, since none of the bands knew what each other were going to do. I liked the song right away, but I thought the band stayed a little long on each idea. Still it didn't get boring. I decided to count how many changes each song contained, but I only did so with the first three songs. The first song had approximately 26 changes in it. I say approximately because I doubt if there is a sure fire way to count every change a band does in a song accurately. Anyway, You get about one change per minute. I don't count repetitions.

Randone takes over with "Jill," a whore turned respectable woman, due to her marriage to a farmer that gets gunned down before she arrives at her new home. Randone has an organ that dominates the beginning of the tune and continues to repeat the theme, only each successive time something new is added to change the sound. Then they do all kinds of different things. All in all they had about 86 changes in the song,which means there was something happening every 15 to 20 seconds. This band knows how to play prog and keep it interesting! They should do well. I think it would be a good thing for all prog bands to plaster how many changes they have in each song on the front of every album. This way there might be a little more effort by the bands to put more into their concepts and give us listeners more for our money. Anyway, The guitar also shines and there are some decent vocals by the band. I did like the female voices better than the male ones though.

"Cheyene" by Tillion is one of my favorites. Andrea Ricci, I hope I spelled his name right, is a standout here and he thrills with his voice. The band also does some wild and crazy stuff. They had 75 to 80 changes in their piece, so the music doesn't get stale, but it is intense! These guys also know how to play prog.

"Harmonica" by La Voce Del Vento is a character study of the main player in the movie, namely Charles Bronson, who had to watch his brother die, because of Frank(Henry Fonda). This song sucks you in right away and has some cool changes in it. Very interesting. The thing I wished they would have done is not repeated the main theme so much, but it doesn't take away from the song a whole lot.

"Morton" by Taproban is another italian group that deliver the goods here and they keep that old west vibe going throughout the song. My favorite part is after the sounds of construction work fade away and it is just the singer and his piano. It is simply beautiful! The only thing I didn't care for here was the staying too long on the idea attitude, the way too many prog bands seem to like doing. The last part where the ocean is heard rushing in and out lasts far too long and should have been shortened considerably.

"Frank" by Trion is the only instrumental, but the band delivers the goods. These guys sound like Genesis during their "Wind and Wuthering" period. I especially enjoyed the last part. It is slow and just makes you visualize Harmonica as he gets done killing Frank and begins walking away. It is a fitting way to end the album. The thing I didn't care for about this song was the same thing I complain about continually. Too long on too few ideas. Still, it doesn't take that much away from the listening enjoyment.

I continue to listen to this album and I don't plan on stopping for years. I like it a lot and I give it 4 stars.