POSIDONIAN FIELDS

After their wonderful contribution to the CD The Seven Samurai - The Ultimate Epic (also featuring CAP and Tempano), I was very curious to this just released new album. At about 75% contains prog that is drenched into the 'Classic Seventies Symphonic Prog' tradition with obvious hints from ELP along Yes and Genesis and it reminds me also of keyboard driven bands like Le Orme, Quill en Lift: a fluent rhythm with the distinctive Moog sound and impressive Hammond work (including a swirling solo with those exciting 'whisks') in Immersion, a mid-tempo with great interplay between Hammond and subtle choir- Mellotron and a sumptuous final part with church-organ and again choir-Mellotron in Riding In Posidonian Fields, fat Moog flights and powerful bass in Entwinnings and a lush Hammond - and Moog sound in the fluent Octopus!. My highlight is the track Uncontrolled Dreams that starts with fragile piano and melancholic English vocals, then lots of pleasant shifting moods featuring great Hammond, fat Moog, sensitive electric guitar runs, deep Moog Taurus bass pedal sounds and a delicate jazzy inspired part with organ, bass and drums. As I stated before, at about 75% is Seventies inspired symphonic rock but the rest contains mainly mellow, often folky sounding tracks delivering acoustic (rhythm) guitar, Grand piano, often melancolical English vocals (why not Italian?!) and ethnic instruments like the bouzouki and bodhran. It took at least three listening sessions to get into Tapobran their new CD but I am sure that many symphomaniacs will be delighted ablut this album. Unfortunately my problem remains that when I want to be carried away to Progheaven by keyboard driven Seventies inspired symphonic prog, those mellow, folky sounding songs take me back to earth, that's my personal note.

This is the third album from this Italian trio (bass,drum,keyboards) with English vocals (with a little Italian accent=but not so bad).They resemble an early Le Orme but not so refined.It took me a few spins to get into their music (it's sometimes the case with prog music) but it's good,really good not a masterpiece but a good addition to any prog collection So 4 stars for Tapbroban Posidonian Fields who will be a great discovery for fans of ELP and LE ORME and any serious proggers who likes Italian groups.POTS

I had high expectations for this release in view of the quality displayed on their sophemore "Outside Nowhere" which was a most enjoyable ride. With its drop dead gorgeous cover, "Poseidonian Fields" was to be the crowning recording of this talented band, but I must state that we have a knuckleball , hard to catch or even fathom. The first 5 cuts are rather ordinary (even after a dozen auditions), where only Guglielmo Morietti's develish Rickenbaker rules , contrasting with rather poor vocals in heavily accented English and just plods like a ho-hum tractor. Then from nadir to zenith, the band suddenly decides to kick the proceedings into overdrive , divebombing like a Stuka into a sea of mellotron and a standout melody onthe 6th track : "Suspension" . Next tracks, "Octopus" and the brilliant" Uncontrolled Dreams" keep the pace majestic and passionate (check out the riffing bass lines, amazing!). As if to pound the nail further into the surrender coffin, "No Return" proposes a velvety array of moods, propelling the buzz to heavenly heights, tinged with native Indian (?) chants. On the 6 minute "Farewell" , the hypnotic magic meanders for 2.5 minutes and suddenly slides into silence!!!!Where are the remaining 4 minutes? Did I get a bum copy or did the venerable musicians revert to sloppiness? Can someone let me know? Disappointment reigns where jubilation was scheduled to sit . Rats!!!! Consistency is the key to posterity , signori! 3.5 stars awarded to the bassist .

I am glad that this band was switched from the eclectic genre to the Italian Symph one to which it fully belongs (maybe that I got heard.).

This is the third album of this very good band, widely keyboard oriented. The influences of Gianluca De Rossi are no less than Banks, Emerson and Wakeman (according to their web site).

While "Genesis " was the major influence on their first album, here and there some ELP & Crimson sounds could be heard as well. The ELP mark was stronger on their very good "Outside Nowhere" and this album is even closer.

The first trio of songs is fully bombastic and the link is very obvious. Inspiration is present as well, especially during Immersion.

Suspension is an ambient track, mostly instrumental. Soft keyboards, until the vocals comes in. Fully Gabrielesque, melancholic and a little bit sad.

While their first album was almost instrumental, their second featured some Italian lyrics and I wrote already that the band sounded so much better, more convincing while doing so. On this one, songs with lyrics are all in English. Again, it is OK, but this release would have been better in an Italian version IMO. The relation with Peter's voice has never been so close.

This album is less personal, but these musicians are very skilled and this album is enjoyable. "Uncontrolled Dreams" which is the longest track (almost nine minutes) is almost a tribute to "Genesis". For the first time, a very good guitar solo can be noticed. In this ocean of keys, it was welcome; but don't get me wrong, Gianluca is brilliant in his role. You'll get the confirmation just after during a strong synth break (hi, Keith). One almost believe that Chris Squire is holding the bass during the finale. A very good song, probably the best one from Posidonian Fileds.

The closing number is the weakest one. A mellow ballad, a blank and some folkish notes to finish...

I would have expected something better from Taproban after their excellent second album. I can't go higher than three stars in the rating.

Year 2004 and Taproban had already composed one cover (''Lark's Tongues in Aspic Part 2'' with the help of Fabrizio Santoro from Nodo Gordiano) and one long prog-suite (''Morton'', helped by Alessandro Papotto, formerly of Nodo Gordiano and later with Periferia del Mondo) for two nice upcoming albums within the year, the King Crimson tribute ''The Letters: An Unconventional Italian Guide to King Crimson'' and the Musea-related '' The Spaghetti Epic''.At the dawn of 2006 the trio entered the XL Studio in Rome to work on a third full-length work.The recordings finished in May and six months later ''Posidonian fields'' was shelved in stores by Mellow Records.

Taproban continue from where ''Outside nowhere'' stopped, taking a few more steps towards a more British-styled keyboard-driven Progressive Rock with huge old-school influences, but always surrounded by a more dramatic and fairly mysterious flavor, akin to BANCO DEL MUTUO SOCCORSO, NUOVA ERA and LE ORME.The ten tracks of the album are divided in three chapters with great keyboard parts by di Rossi, changing from haunting Classical-drenched moves to nervous Symphonic Rock, somewhat with an E.L.P. and RICK WAKEMAN edge.With a strong armour of synthesizers next to occasional Mellotron, Hammond- and church-organ washes, the album has plenty to offer to a listener, starving for rich, nostalgic and Classic-styled Progressive Rock.Bombastic dual-keyboard themes, smooth interludes, organ fanfares in a KEITH EMERSON style and a nice bunch of romantic movements with less energy and more vocals and melodies in the forefront.Unlike many prog trios, there are also sporadic guitar runs in the album, usually with a smooth touch similar to STEVE HACKETT's time with GENESIS.But the driving force of the album remains the mass of grandiose, keyboard-based instrumental textures of the group with inspirations from the 70's era.

Another solid release by a very consistent band.Again not a groundbreaking album, but a nice work full of impressive instrumental atmospheres.Recommended.

Posidonian Fields is the third album by Taproban, a band from Rome formed in 1996. It was released in 2006 on the independent label Mellow Records with a line up featuring Gianluca De Rossi (keyboards), Guglielmo Mariotti (bass, guitars, vocals) and Davide Guidoni (drums, percussion). It's a concept album containing three long suites that tell about a journey through an imaginary submarine abyss, a metaphorical one way trip in the subconscious. The lyrics by Davide Guidoni are loosely based on Altered States, a 1980 American science fiction-horror film directed by Ken Russell and are based on a novel by the same name by playwright and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky about a sensory deprivation research conducted in isolation tanks under the influence of psychoactive drugs. Davide Guidoni took also charge of the art work that in some way depicts the content of the album... Anyway here words, images and notes are like touches of colour used to stir your imagination and you have to fill the gaps. As for the music, every now and again the overall sound could recall bands such as Emerson, Lake & Palmer or Le Orme, with the use of a wide range of vintage instruments such as Hammond C3 organ or Minimoog, but the song-writing is brilliant the final result perfectly fits the storyline.

The first suite, "Chapter One: Immersion", is divided into three parts and begins softly, with the narrative vocals in Greek and the mysterious atmosphere of "EvapZis". The second part, "Immersion", begins by a dreamy acoustic guitar arpeggio and floating vocals to bid farewell to reality... The one way journey to the unknown begins while colourful psychedelic images appear and melt during the long dive into the submarine kingdom of Poseidon... On the third part, "Caronte's Ship Imponderability", the rhythm rises while frenzied keyboards waves and rough, nervous bass lines take you across the Styx to a kind of blue hell...

The second suite, "Chapter Two: Suspension", is divided into four parts and begins by the surreal calm of "Riding in Posidonian Fields" that depicts in music and lyrics the meeting with a strange creature. A strummed acoustic guitar pattern reminds you that the ocean is like a desert with its life underground where you can find nameless seahorses and other creatures riding into the blue... The second part is the instrumental "Entwinings" that conjures up the image of a mysterious dance into the deep and fades into "Suspension" where you can hear the echoes of a choir of submerged voices coming from a world that you can't reach. Then you relax, you get lost in your dreams, among corals and fishes you become someone or something else in a kind of new Genesis... The fourth part, "Octopus!", suggest what could be the result of this metamorphosis...

The last suite, "Chapter Three: Oblivion", is divided into three parts and begins by the dark, nightmarish "Uncontrolled Dreams", where you risk to get trapped behind a series of doors corroded by time... The rhythm is frenzied and the tension is higher and higher while you seem unable to climb out from the abyss... Well, an altered state of consciousness is a condition which is significantly different from a normal waking beta wave state and the expression describes induced changes in one's mental state, almost always temporary... But beware! Sometimes there's no way out and the following part "No Return" marks a new awareness while you realize that you can't turn back and that it's too late to escape from the fog of your subconscious. The mystical final part, "Farewell (including Rebirth)", marks the beginning of a new journey towards the eternal mystery of the afterlife while your soul spreads beyond the infinite...

On the whole, an interesting concept and a very nice album, although I think that's a pity that the band did not exploit their mother language for the lyrics as in their previous works.