Erik de Beer knows like no other to make difficult music sound simple, fluent and natural.
The hardest synthesizer, piano and guitar runs sound natural and smooth. The same goes
for the themes and chord progressions he exposes in his songs. The often very elaborate
arrangements make his compositions sound natural and warm. If you listen for example to
the bass parts, you notice that most of them are fully fledged counter melodies, so well
executed by bass player Iris Sagan, who combines rhythmic playing to adding melodic
lines. There are not many albums on which you can so clearly distinguish the bass parts.
On this new album "20 Years After" Erik drives his arranging skills beyond the limits to
support the story line, exposed in the major composition on the abundant filled disc "The
True Tale Of Duplo The Equivalent", a funny story, told both in music and lyrics, lasting
more than one hour. The composition starts of with a sort of overture displaying the main
theme, representing the main character of the story, Duplo, a funny little guy with one eye
and green hair, who lives in a land where everyone looks the same. Every time when Duplo
is on the loose, the theme returns. In the first parts, life in Equivalesia is described, how
every day is the same and how life is regulated by a huge computer, to prevent the
Equivalesians to get jealous. Erik employs all his arranging and playing skills to underline
the events and the moods of the story in a brilliant way. For example in "Evening Thoughts"
when Duplo thinks about the meaning of his existence, a beautiful ensemble of woodwind
instruments ( flute, oboe, clarinets and a bassoon) play a sort of bucolic lullaby, subtly
accompanied by acoustic guitar, lute and harpsichord. Then it's off for "Working On The
Mountain", with a large instrumental intro with which LLP hit us with everything they've got,
ferocious Moog solo's, an aggressive Hammond and fine melodic twin lead guitar solo's,
before Marion enters, to tell the story of how the Equivalents dig holes on odd days and fill
them up on even days. This time there are no guest vocalists present on the album. All
vocal duties rest on the shoulders of Marion Brinkman and I think she is by far the best
singer the Project had so far. Listen to her singing the lovesong "Unica", which reminded
me so much of that beautiful Latte e Miele album "Papillon". Very funny is the rock
ballad "Love Is In His Eye" in which Duplo's love for Unica is described. In the
instrumental "Together" there is an exciting arpeggio acoustic guitar part to be enjoyed and
the middle section contains a fantastic Moog solo. In "Life In The Individual State Of
Ridicula" the habits of Ridicula, a country where everyone is different and where fashion
dictates life, is described. "Happiness" is one of the most beautiful symphonic songs on
the album, with a leading role for a fantastic wailing Gibson, playing a great solo, alternated
and sustained by the Moog. This great symphonic theme, which will appeal to lovers of the
old Hackett sound, returns in the equally beautiful "Move Out". A funny intermezzo is
provided with "The Guy is Cool", in which the inhabitants of Ridicula stab heir left eye, in
order to be more like Duplo, jazzy sung by Marion and provided with a bar piano solo by
Erik. "Same Old Song" is an impressive piece of progrock with some dissonant themes on
synths and bassoon and again the twin guitar solo's over a solid rhythm section. In the end
you get a fine example of what I meant with making difficult things sound simple. Here Erik
plays a short, but incredible fast two voiced two hand tapping solo. The story ends with
sombre and dark sounding synth sounds and a voice reminding us, that computers are
only manmade, the conclusion of a story that is trying to expose the harms of both
communism and capitalism. The album contains four shorter compositions. Track one is
an instrumental performed only by keyboards, bass and drums and it underlines once
more the virtuoso capacities of Erik on all his keyboards. Probably the most beautiful song
on the album is the touching and fully acoustic "Worries", sung in a pure and serene way by
Marion, with again these beautiful woodwind arrangements over a grand piano and an
acoustic guitar. Title track "20 Years After" appears to be another solid instrumental, with
screaming Moogs and in the end a great electric guitar lead. This is truly a mature album
and despite the humoristic interjections, it is one of the finest symphonic rock albums I
know! Whistler.
Whistler |5/5 |
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).