LOST EGGS

This is a compilation of tracks made by the group between 1976 and 1993 but never had seen the release on any album. But I wouldn't say it's not just a collection of material of inferior quality, it's rather a quite interesting overview of the band's development starting from the 70's until today. Of course the music offered here can't be compared with the one from their MIND-project for example. Most of the tracks are from the 80's and a kind of experimental symphonic Jazz. Some are quite similar with what KAIPA were doing at that time. Actually there is a little bit of everything, some jazz rock fusion, some symphonic rock, even rhythmic Latin American kind of stuff ("Brazil Jack"). The tracks from their very early period like "I skuggan av vår tid", "Kungens musketörer" and "Oktober" are showing more their classical symphonic influence with a touch of folk, the most interesting one of them being the last mentioned one. There are as well some older live recordings of them, done for the Swedish broadcasting. On one of them ("Looping") their future sound can already be anticipated.

As a SUMMARY I can say that this is certainly not an essential album in prog, but still it's an interesting and nice to listen one for everyone who is interested to hear how they started and developed to the exceptional and groundbreaking band they are today. Although being not very "progressive", it's still a good and enjoyable album for anyone who is more into soft jazz music and worth 3 stars IMO!

I find that the majority of compilations of unreleased tracks by any band are usually hit or miss affairs, with spotty quality and tracks inferior to the albums they were left off of. With Isildurs Bane, I haven't heard most of their albums, so I can't tell if these tracks are better or worse. I can tell you that most of these tracks are great.

The album begins in an unpromising manner, with Second Step. It's disco beat dates the song, but the guitaring helps quite a bit. The next track, I skuggan av vår tid, is a folky tune that doesn't catch my interest at all. But from then on, I love the rest of the album. The songs are mostly in a fusion style (I hear a strong Holdsworth influence), and the performance is top notch. Even the live tracks come of spectacularly.

So just get past the first two songs, and enjoy.

My acquaintance with this Swedish band started here. I didn't know in advance (when I borrowed it) that it was a compilation of unreleased tracks - which could be guessed from the title - but that didn't do any harm, on the contrary! First, this selection nicely shows the development of the band up to 1993, and second, if these are leftovers, the real albums must be well worth checking out - which proved to be right. I hate the cover and the whole design, and some more information on the band would have been useful, as a matter of fact.

As hdfisch says, mostly this is from the eighties - or late 70's. According to my memory, a lot of this relatively accessible music falls in the fusion category, but also Symphonic style of Isildurs Bane is present. The music is almost entirely instrumental. The quality is pretty good, both for compositions (with few exceptions) and especially for production, so for a fan this is well worth adding to one's collections. I wouldn't recommend to buy this if you're new to the group, but it will make you interested in the real albums.