CASTALIA

CAST are one of the top modern Mexican prog rock groups. Most of the musicians in the band today have been playing together for the past 20 years, but, thanks to the internet, CAST has built a loyal following around the world since the early 1990s. CAST are also quite prolific when it comes to album releases. They average a new album about every year, and have also put out numerous live and solo albums. "Castalia" is a new live album from a recent gig in Italy. It also ranks as one of the best CAST CDs I've heard. A few years ago I got a chance to see CAST play live in San Diego. That night I quickly realized that they were better live than in the studio. And this new CD proves that they have gotten tighter since the San Diego gig. "Castalia" consists mostly of newer material from the past 4 studio albums (although I'm not familiar with a couple of tracks). A lot of that material was rearranged into "medley" form, with a few tracks even sung in Spanish, for the Italian crowd. The new listener is quickly greeted with a busy form of symphonic prog that lightly tilts towards 80s neo-prog. The piano playing from Al Vidales stands out immediately. Al reminds me of the piano player from LOCANDA DELLE FATE, due to the amount of notes coming from his fingers, yet, somehow, he adds depth to a composition without taking the spotlight. His synth work is really what reminds me of 80s neo-prog due to its bombastic nature. Vocalist Dino Brassea does a wonderful job live. Especially on the Spanish tracks. I've never had a problem with Dino's English vocals, but, man, the Spanish vocals are wonderful. The warmth, and confidence in his voice when he sings in Spanish is striking. I can't forget to mention drummer Antonio Bringas, who is one of best live drummers I've seen. For some reason, this musician's drum work doesn't stand out at all on the studio albums, but he is a different monster live. Instrumentally, these guys kick some serious ass. The amount of changes, time-signatures, and melodies during some of the instrumental passages is jaw-dropping. But most of the vocal sections might also only appeal to neo-prog fans. Overall, "Castalia" is CAST at their best. I would love to see them release more live albums like this that span most of their compositional catalog, and a totally Spanish studio album in 2002 would definitely be something to look forward to.

As I have already mentioned in my ten previous Cast album reviews, I prefer the band while playing live or on compilation albums. Several of less interesting numbers are avoided and therefore, these works are most interesting. So, I was not really worried when I discovered this live album.

The "Introduction" is fully an ELP track. Loads of keys (but Vidales has used us to this). Cast's influences are spread within three bands : ELP, Genesis and PFM. The latter is definitely not far away in "Hiddem Poems". A great song with complex sounds, full of gorgeous keyboards, but the whole band is doing a great job.

Highly skilled (at times too much), this band can also play easy and beautiful music : some flute and light atmosphere automatically reminds me of the Trespass period. This is a very melodic track which belongs to the very best of Cast. This live version is just sublime and is one of the highlight.

Since Cast has an enourmous back catalogue (already nine studio albums before this live one), they will please the crowd with some "medleys" to give an overview of their work. Although I am not always keen on those exercises, I have to admit that Cast does a pretty good job even if the "Legacy" album does not belong to their best releases.

"Simple Things - Cosas simples" will be sung in Spanish and the second medley "Reality & Misantrophy" is both Spanish/ English which is fine as well as far as I am concerned (vámonos amigos, vamos a gozar). This long part (over seventeen minutes) is the other highlight of the album.

This live album is a pleasant (and for once short) effort. You'll get a bit of what Cast can deliver, but still their best live album remains IMO "A Live Experience" which featured some long epics from the band. Their early repertoire is completely forgotten here which at this time of their career sounds logical but would have deserved a song here and there. The last piece "Moving Universe" beautifully closes this good live album.

To be honest, I would rate this one with seven out of ten. My (step-family) roots will have me upgrade it with four stars (at least you know why). But do not be afraid : if ever you listen to this album you will not be disappointed.

Do not expect easy listening music and great guitar soli. You won't get here. Most of the music is rather intricated, difficult to reach yet played with great skills.

Arriba Mexico.