THE MUSE AWAKENS

Oops, they did it again - Happy The Man's long awaited comeback album "The Muse Awakens" has been finally delivered, and what a masterpiece it's turned out to be! This is one major prog highlight for 2004 (perhaps 2004's best). All-time veterans Whitaker, Wyatt and Kennell have returned to the musical scene with their performing skills intact in their brilliance, and newcomers Rosenthal and Bergamini have added new blood and renewed strength to the Happy The Man sound, which generally speaking has kept its vintage essence - amazing symph prog with a jazz twist. This is due to the fact that this refurbished HTM have set a clear goal of resurrecting their own prog flame in the purity of its primal excellence: Bergamini's drumming style is pretty much reminiscent of that of Ron Riddle's, and Rosenthal's technical proficiency in his solos and exquisite sensibility in his textures are quite close to 'Watkins home'. On the other hand, these new kids on the block are not clones, but skillful accomplices in this new HTM task - in fact, Rosenthal contributes three compositions to the new repertoire, showing how well can this new blood run flowing through the band's artistic veins together with the old one. Having mentioned Riddle, let me add that the overall spirit of "The Muse Awakens" reminds me of the fluid combination of musical inventiveness and precise tightness that had been displayed in 1978's "Crafty Hands" (my fave HTM album). As usual, HTM's main factor is the struggle for exploring the possibilities of the basic compositional ideas with enough room for free expression while not abusing that same freedom: both the sense of ensemble and the inherent restrictions of the melodies and harmonic sequences written are given preference. The up-tempo opening track 'Contemporary Insanity' is very stimulating and catchy, and complex enough to sound quite interesting. Things get a bit calmer in the following title track, but the musical richness is actually more impressive; the same goes for 'Stepping Through Time', whose eerie passages and Gershwinesque colours drive the band toward majestic heights. These first three tracks pretty much indicate the very essence of "Muse Awakens", but there's room for some surprise, such as the delicate dissonances cheerfully delivered in 'Lunch at the Psychedelicatessen' and the funky oriented rocking energy portrayed in 'Barking Spiders'. Some of the most captivating sense of introspective melancholy is comprised in 'Adrift' and 'Kindred Spirits'. Well, I won't mention every single track of the album: suffice it to say that each one is simply great, and that the closure 'Il Quinto Mare' finds the band retaking their epic facet in a grandiose manner: what a beautiful way to end an album!. and what an album! It sure deserves the perfect rating - one more for Happy the Man.