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Touchstone - Discordant Dreams CD (album) cover

DISCORDANT DREAMS

Touchstone

 

Crossover Prog

3.51 | 44 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

natewait
2 stars I bought this album in anticipation of seeing Touchstone live at CalProg. I wanted to get to know the artists that were playing, so I figured this was a good starting point. I felt they gave a wonderful performance at CalProg and their personality as a band shone through. But, I'll admit that I can't quite connect with "Discordant Dreams." I'm not sure what the problem is. The music is just kind of, average, to my ears. By no means is it bad, I just find nothing truly special about it.

This album is not really very proggy to my ears overall. There are definitely moments where the prog shines through. But, overall it sounds very AOR and Classic Rock. But, there are moments where it sounds almost like Neo-Prog to my ears. Each song is upbeat for the most part and features some great mixing of vocals between a prominent male and female voice. The guitar stands out as the more dominant instrument of the band, but there are also moments where the keyboard player is able to shine. The drums and bass are very solid throughout, creating a real strong backbeat for the music. All of these elements seem to suggest I should like this album, but there is something lacking I can't quite put my finger on.

Part of the problem, I think, is that the songs don't sound very distinct to me. They all kind of blend together and it makes listening to the album a little bit tiring. I perhaps wanted a bit more originality. But, I do think there is some real potential with this group. There are some catchy melodies, some really good playing, and a definitely interesting vibe. Like I said, I felt these songs came more to life live, but don't really stick out to me on the album. But, songs like the title track, "See The Light", and most significantly, "The Beggar's Song" really show some definite potential. In fact, "The Beggar's Song" stands out as pretty excellent. If they can make an entire album of songs of that caliber, they could definitely have a winner on their hands. But, for me, this isn't quite a winner.

natewait | 2/5 |

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