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Lynn Stokes & Sol Surfers - Terra Nocturne CD (album) cover

TERRA NOCTURNE

Lynn Stokes & Sol Surfers

Crossover Prog


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Windhawk
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Collaborator
3 stars I'll have to say this about Terra Nocturne - it is a strong and well thought out atmosphere Lynn Stokes and his Sol Surfers are exploring on this production.

The musical style explored is a dark one; as fits the title of the album; but also one that is mellow, slick and highly melodic. Acoustic guitars and piano are the main melodic providers, serving distinct themes on which the rest of the instruments can play upon; with floating synths in the back adding texture while sax, flute and melodic guitar soloing are given the limelight in the front; besides the highly pleasing and relaxing vocals of Stokes.

In style I'd describe this as a mellow Pink Floyd from the late 70's approaching a new age type of music - the dark atmospheres and light melodic explorations in a rich and textured setting are highly comparable to Gilmour and company, and the guitar soloing just as much - but the compositions are slower, not at all as adventurous or creative but very well performed though.

Those who like Pink Floyd at their most mellow as well as finding new age-tinged music interesting should get out and sample this creation - chances are good it'll be regarded as a treasured acquisition.

Report this review (#205366)
Posted Wednesday, March 4, 2009 | Review Permalink
Tarcisio Moura
PROG REVIEWER
3 stars A friend told me about this band when I was talking about Pink Floyd-influenced groups in a prog group. It took me some time to find this album and I was quite surprised they were americans. And the PF influences are evident, although they do have come up with an excellent debut work. The main reason I canīt give this record a higher rating is the fact that some times the PF ties are a bit too close for comfort. On tracks like the opener Sacred Moon's Light, plus Let Go and Where Have You Gone are almost PF rip offs. However, this is easily forgivable on the grounds they did write some very good songs and the fact that not all the tunes on this CD are so floydian. The Instrumental ones specially point a very interesting way towards something utterly of their own.

It took me a little while to fully appreciate Lynn Stokes & Sol Surfers many qualities. Ok, there are several parts that remind a lot of the band which produced The Dark Side Of The Moon, The Wall and Wish You Here. So it is no surprise that we have a sax player that sounds uncanny like Dick Parry, Richard Wright-like keys and so on. The difference is that they can write excellent tunes. Some of them quite derivative, but good anyway. And they are really fine musicians who know their trade. The arrangements are very tasteful and there are no fillers, nor weak stuff. The production is top notch. Itīs hard to point a highlight, but I can say that tracks like the title track, Open Door and Across The Barrier show their potential to become very big.

Final rating: 3,5 stars. Iīm looking forward to hear their next works. If you like the quieter side of Pink Floyd and donīt mind the lack of originality you should not miss Terra Nocturne. For my part, I like it a lot!

Report this review (#383288)
Posted Wednesday, January 19, 2011 | Review Permalink
kev rowland
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR
Honorary Reviewer
3 stars Although this may sound like a duo, Sol Surfers is actually the name of Lynn Stokes' band, which includes both a saxophonist and a flautist among others. Now that is out of the way, what about the album title? 'Terra Nocturne' can be translated to "nocturnal land", while of course 'nocturnal' translates to "done, active, or occurring at night". So, we have a land at night, hence the picture of the moon on the cover, or is perhaps a bit more than that? Often, bands are influenced by those who have gone before, some more than others, but it is somewhat unusual to come across a band who seem to have been influenced by just one album from that band. Yep, here we have a group who are influenced not just by Pink Floyd, but very much by the classic 'DSOTM'.

Part of me feels that this is a sacrilege and that this 2008 album should be taken out and destroyed, however there is a larger part of me who is really enjoying listening to this and that is the side that wins! This album passed me by at the time, and the same must have been true for everyone else as this appears to have been their latest release, but they are still gigging so hopefully there will be something new in the future. Although heavily influenced by Roger et al, this is an original piece of work and in the lack of the masters themselves is something that any Floyd fan would enjoy. For more details visit www.solsurfermusic.com

Report this review (#1175268)
Posted Thursday, May 15, 2014 | Review Permalink

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