KALEIDOSCOPE

When a brave band emerges which clearly attempts to recreate some of the excitement of classic 1970s prog (more particularly: the "symphonic jazz-rock" of bands like Bruford and National Health), they usually deserve to be applauded. D.F.A. consisted of four intrepid virtuosi who managed to record EXACTLY what they wanted, without any concessions to silly record company executives.

On their first album, disc 1 of the current set (which dates from 1995), they initially seem a little lost (the first two tracks are terribly noisy - the band were probably trying too hard to sound like Gentle Giant) but from track 3 onward, things keep improving: there are a couple of instrumental tracks which strongly remind me of "The Cinema Show" (with some flashy Tony Banks-style keyboard solos), but on the remainder of the album (and particularly on "Space Ace Man" and "La Via") it is lead guitarist Silvio Minella who impresses me most. His solos truly reach for the sky: no bombast but passion, intelligence and ecstasy.

On the band's second album (here represented by disc 2) those National Health/Bruford influences really kick in. At times I felt like shouting: "Wait a sec, you nabbed that riff from ONE OF A KIND!" But the music always moves on fast, and usually there's yet another exuberant solo just round the corner.

Over all, disc 1 in this collection probably sounds more daring and original than disc 2 (if I remember correctly, D.F.A. would take their British-inspired jazz-rock to even greater heights on the album "4th") but the studio part of the second disc ends on a lush ballad featuring female vocals, which proves D.F.A. were also capable of delivering heart-meltingly beautiful SONGS. As a bonus, there are some live performances of 3 of the original studio tracks.