ODYSSEY - THE GREATEST TALE

I would like to start with my conclusion: NOT TO BE MISSED IN ANY SERIOUS PROGROCK COLLECTION!!!

This lavish international progrock project includes 3 CD featuring nine more or less known progrock bands (each one 'epic' composition) and their musicians and instruments and a 56-page booklet that contains drawings, lyrics and stories about this project and the Greek saga the Odeysey (about Odysseus and his travels on which he met Cyclopes and Sirens).

CD1 (73:29) 1. Opener is Canadian band Nathan Mahl, led by multi-instrumentalist Guy LeBlanc (keyboards, bass and guitar). He colours the alternating music very pleasantly with his vintage keyboards (Hohner clavinet, Rhodes electric piano, Moog and Hammond), the fiery electric guitar is a strong counterpart. During the more than 20 minutes Nathan manages to keep my attention due to great soli, a wonderful vintage sound and lots of strong musical ideas. 2. Argentine band Nexus is my favorite band on this project and they don't disappoint me, the music delivers splendid early Keith Emerson inspired keyboards (fat Moogs and powerful Hammond), some heavy and propulsive guitar riffs, warm Spanish vocals, a piece with classical guitar and many great breaks, accellarations, build-ups and 'grand finales', A MASTERPIECE! 3. USA band Glass Hammer is perhaps the most known progrock band on this 3-CD, they sound here very familiar to their fans: dynamic and alternating with a melodic and accessible progrock sound featuring wonderful vintage keyboards and fiery electric guitar.

CD2 (79:23) 4. XII Alfonso from France sounds very original: an opening with classical orchestrations, choir samples and percussive sounds, then many musical ideas like jazzy with a Hammond solo, dreamy with twanging guitar and soaring keyboards and bombastic with sparkling piano, fiery guitar and flashy syntehsizers. 5. Simon Says from Sweden is another favorite of mine (I love their album Paradise Square from 2002). You have to be up to the a bit theatrical and very distinctive vocals but the duo-keyboard players deliver an outstanding and varied sound. The guitar soli are fiery (he uses an E-bow) this composition is build upon many strong soli. 6. C.A.P. is an experienced Italian band with powerful Italian vocals, lots of organ and piano and some fat, very spectacular sounding Moog soli. This song sounds fluent and often bombastic, C.A.P. is just another good, new Italian band.

CD3 (68:07) 7. Tempano from Brasil is the most original but also less accessible sounding band on this 3-CD. The track starts with church organ and opera-like vocals, then adventurous and a bit wayward progrock featuring sensitive electric guitar work, wonderful choir-Mellotron and great synthesizers. 8. Minimum Vital from France makes alternating and melodic prog with that special blend of church organ and Mike Oldfield- like electric guitar (flowing and fiery). The bombastic final part with howling guitar is very moving. 9. Aether from Brasil is the warm and pleasant final act on this 3-CD. they sound traditional with strong echoes from the neo-progressive movement with music that ranges from swinging with fluent electric guitar to dreamy with soaring keybards and mid-tempo with exciting synthesizer flights. The end is beautiful with sensitive acoustic guitar.

I would like to end with my intro: NOT TO BE MISSED IN ANY SERIOUS PROGROCK COLLECTION!!!

Here's one I'm longing to review for a long time and actually I'm still not quite ready for it. But I can't postpone it any longer. I have to at least make a start with it and perhaps complete it later on. And this is because this is a unique project, one of the very few progressive efforts I'm immensely impressed by. As an ultimate epic freak I imagine myself in paradise with this 3 CD treat. I can tell you, I cannot believe how good this is. The reason why I waited so long for the review is that I want to do an ultimate review over this immaculate performance. But to do that I will have to listen to these great songs more than 10 times so that's over 40 hours listening material in total. And I don't have that much spare time and there's also more I have to listen to. So that's why but patience is running out with me and I will at least make a start now.

I already have been profuse with superlatives and that is fully justified. It's one thing that there are 9 epics on this release but that's on itself no guarantee that it's also a great success. I also have some other epic releases by this label (Colussus of Rhodes and Spaghetti epic no.1) and they are far less at least where my personal taste is concerned. But on this one it's one high quality piece after another. Of course they are not equally good, that would be a miracle, in fact I can make a list in right order from excellent to good, let's do that first before we will do the real review (I know them so well by now that I can at least make this listing): 1. Nathan Mahl (5*) 2. Aether (5*) 3. Nexus (5*) 4. Minimum Vital (4,75*) 5. Glass Hammer (4,75*) 6. Simon Says (4,75*) 7. Tempano (4,5*) 8. XII Alphonso (3,75*) 9. C.A.P. (3*)

But even the last in line is good enough to gave praise for at least parts of the epic. To close down this first part of my review (to be continued ...) I can say the first three of the list are absolute masterpiece tracks, the next three are very very good and the last three are still very much worth while so it will go without further explanation that the total score is the ultimate one: 5 stars. And it's a hundred percent guarantee that if you're a true epic lover you can just do one right thing and that's do everything possible to get this music and it's a certainty that you will love it !!

We can just admire someone who's able to write something. Each "track" has its own mood, each tells part of this great story (personally, I admire/like/love/adore/worship (maybe) Ancient Greek history a lot (currently have Ancient Greece (first millennium before Christ). Difference makes each band, because for example you have different experience from Glass Hammer and Nathan Mahl. Personally, I don't know how is this connected with certain parts of Odyssey. And if you know "Tardigrade" by Simon Says, you'll feel like at home when listening to their contribution here. Not exactly Tardigrade, but quite close in style and feeling. After all, it's the band I know the best from these selected on this release.

4(+), prepare to taste very long album, maybe too long for you. You'll feel (maybe) that it's too big for human to understand it, to grasp its features, but believe me, it is possible, even not for everyone (as my case illustrates, when I reached the end of this album, I didn't remember what was in the beginning, but am I to blame ?). Even it's hard album, not in terms of prog difficulty, but in terms of length, it is a good album.