INHALING GREEN

This is an excellent modern instrumental prog album.Nick embraces technology and creates several well constructed peices of music culminating with the beautifull Inhaling Green 16 minute suite.Plenty of variety and scope in the ideas,well worth checking out.Some of the music reminds me of Mike Oldfield's Songs Of Distant Earth with its textures and use of vocals.There is no 'real' drums though which may put some people off.John Hackett weighs in with some nice flute work on 2 of the tracks.Overall its about 3.5 stars but I'll round up to 4.Cheers Rich.

Throughout the 90's Nick Magnus eventually met some chart success through the Project D ''Synthesizer''albums and his new collaborations with the ''Pan Pipe Moods'' albums, as well as working as a producer for Celtic Spirit in a move towards more Ethnic-flavored creations.However, another solo album was released in 1999 on Centaur Discs, ''Inhaling green'', finding him again responsible for the composing and production of his solo effors, receiving help by John Hackett on flutes, If's last guitarist and long time Procol Harum member Geoff Whitehorn and female singer Clare Brigstocke.

The problem with Magnus' personal albums is that his undenied talent is not always translate into great compositions, fortunately the first couple of tracks offer moments of joy to the listener and that is a good sign indeed.The Neo-proggish ''Velociraptor'' contains some great, dynamic synthesizer parts, while ''Free the spirit'' (linked with his work on the ''Pan Pipe Moods'' albums) is absolutely fantastic OLDFIELD-ian Prog Folk with some stunning melodies around, despite its ambiental atmosphere.''The devil and the deep blue sea'' is another fine Neo/Symphonic/Art Rock track with intricate keyboard parts and melodious guitar themes, a bit similar to KEVIN PEEK and STEVE HACKETT's efforts from early-80's.''Cantus'' is closer to New Wave/Synth Music with Brigstocke present, like singing in a Gregorian chant, but the keyboard and drum parts are totally hillarious.With ''Conquistador'' Magnus offers another OLDFIELD-ian soundscape in sometype of Orchestral Folk Rock with a cinematic mood, but the following ''Dixon hill'' is very cheap Jazz/Fusion with a pleasant tune but a childish atmosphere.John Hackett's presence on the melancholic, cinematic ''Veil of sighs'' is a guarantee of delicate flute parts among the Celtic-inspired textures and another decent piece comes with ''Theme One'', a symphonic-oriented cut, that could have been an excellent short prelude if it wasn't for the plastic keyboards and drums, but certainly Magnus' musical ideas offer memorable passages in a Neo-Prog atmosphere.The 16-min. self-titled track delivers all the previous sounds in one composition: From New Age calm soundscapes to folky OLDFIELD-ian washes to bombastic Symphonic Prog in the vein of CAIRO with both orchestral moves and clean, electrical guitars in the forefront.

Magnus' second album is a pure and sincere piece of Prog/Art Music, coming from his heart and his deep influences.From grandiose Symphonic Rock to elegant Folk, it contains plenty of nice, little moments to reward a listener with an open mind.Recommended.

Anatomy of Magnus' mind

I've had for some years the two most recent album releases from Nick Magnus, Hexameron (2004) and Children Of Another God (2010). But his first two solo albums, Straight On Till Morning (1993) and the present one (from 1999), eluded me until recently (when a fellow Prog Archives member helped me to find them, for which I am grateful).

Inhaling Green is very much of a solo album in that Magnus plays (almost) everything himself. In addition he is also the producer and the engineer. Though he plays other instruments as well, it is clear that this is very much of a keyboard player's album - which I like. The music is at times jazzy, at others symphonic, at yet other times he ventures into electronic music, and some more folky atmopheres can be found as well. It is thus a rather eclectic mix. But Magnus manages well to fit everything into a reasonably coherent set of tracks. There are some nice flute parts played by John Hackett (the brother of Steve Hackett, with whom Magnus is most known for being the keyboard player during the late 70's and early 80's). Though Steve does not appear here, as he would do on Magnus more recent albums, the guitar parts are in his style.

This album is entirely instrumental except some keyboard generated voices on Cantus and some real but wordless vocals as well as some spoken word passages on the 16 plus minute, three-part title track. The best tracks come in at the beginning and at the end of the album with some weaker moments in the middle. The two weakest tracks are in my opinion the aforementioned Cantus (a chant over Dance rhythms) and Dixon Hill (a "bouncy" Jazz number with Brass instruments and annoying whistling!). Conquistador is pleasant enough, but sound a little bit too much like an intro to something that never comes. Theme One sounds rather like a version of ELP in which Carl Palmer has been replaced by a drum machine. This is a triumphant, fanfare-like, keyboard-driven tune in the style of Fanfare For The Common Man. In general the weakest aspect of this album lies in the rhythm department. With a proper drummer to back him up instead of relying on programmed drums, this album would most probably have sounded better.

Nonetheless, this is a good album as it stands that was an improvement over the solo debut and that sits well beside the follow-up Hexameron.

This is an excellent modern instrumental prog album.Nick embraces technology and creates several well constructed peices of music culminating with the beautifull Inhaling Green 16 minute suite.Plenty of variety and scope in the ideas,well worth checking out.Some of the music reminds me of Mike Oldfield's Songs Of Distant Earth with its textures and use of vocals.There is no 'real' drums though which may put some people off.John Hackett weighs in with some nice flute work on 2 of the tracks.There is also a very nice version of George Martin's Theme One which was well covered previously by Van Der Graaf Generator and the late great Cozy Powell. Overall a very decent effort that would merit 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.

As the keyboard player through most of the low and high points of STEVE HACKETT's first 2 decades of solo recording, Nick Magnus could only have been influenced by Hackett's approach and sensibility, but one should not underestimate his own influence on Hackett. Overall, the former GENESIS guitarist endorses the ensemble approach to progressive rock, and he has never skimped on orchestration and keyboard accompaniment to his guitar centric orientation. Here on "Inhaling Green", Magnus plays almost all instruments and yet the overall feel is that of a keyboard oriented prog band; the only guitar credit is for Geoff Whitehorn on the mammoth title cut, but I hear at least the approximations of a guitar elsewhere. The addition of JOHN HACKETT on flute helps reinforce the integrity of the familial relationship, and sensitively colors a couple of these pieces, allowing one to be more forgiving about the exclusively programmed rhythms.

While "Inhaling Green" bears some similarities to some of MIKE OLDFIELD's work, Magnus seems reluctant to steal the show from himself, and generally opts for understatement. This lack of showboating can raise other concerns in the prog realm, and at times he does tread close to new age territory, but generally succeeds in establishing a balance between airy melodies and open displays of instrumental prowess. In lesser hands the result might have been much diminished.

It's hard to pick out a highlight or two as the album maintains a consistently high standard as well as an appealing sequence of arrangements. "Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" features a sparkling melody and arrangement. I do enjoy "Cantus" with its medieval chants by Clare Brigstocke, and "Veil of Sighs" does bring me back to "Voyage of the Acolyte" days, but its brevity assures none of the somnolence of that long ago release. "Dixon Hill" would barely rate a mention but it just fits so well here, being a jazzy horn driven piece that offsets the generally pastoral mood elsewhere. The lengthy title track seems to be Magnus' response to ENIGMA and the like. After an elongated highly orchestral opening salvo, the programmed beats and female wails backstop whispered spoken verses, some of them which recommend the consumption of inedibles - is this a commentary on the health food movement? - before a brilliant guitar interlude by Geoff Whitehorn, manic yet restrained. Later, a repeated bombastic refrain recalls the glory of "Spectral Mornings".

While there may not be much new here, "Inhaling Green" nonetheless represents a breath of fresh air from one of progressive rock's upperclassmen.