CHASING THE DRAGONFLY

Definitively the work of maturity for this Spanish band, even though I like to remark that there are also some defects within, in comparison to their previous album "Muttered Promises". First of all the vocal excursion of the singer is a bit compressed, as sometimes it sounds a little tiring during some melodic breaks through. Nevertheless the effort of "Galadriel" within their last suite, sometimes melodic, in other circumstances tinged with dark colours, is able to let the listener change idea about the real consistency of this ensemble. A bit prolix and uneven, the last suite is characterized by a good range of dynamics and melodic guitar excursions as well, which make the whole album quite interesting, even though it is not completely essential... The other tracks are always quite compact, sometimes resembling the fusion sound, in other music passages closer to some symphonic passages of 20th century (listen to their "Bolero", emulating the job by Ravel), but these latter are like a small music fragment in between!! As for my considerations above, to me - at the end - this work is interesting, despite of some boring music passages... Make your own choice!!

There won't be a revolution in "Galadriel" music. After an avearge debut album, they will propose the same sort of music : meaning "Yes" music. They are cloning this great band with lots of care, I have to say. I remember the first time I listened to their albums : I was really charmed by their nice symphonic sounds and the totally Anderson type of vocals. It was such a return into my past musical experience that I was quite found of them.

Compositions are more polished, nmore achieved than on "Muttered Promises". As during their first release, there will be some short songs here. I quite like "Passport To Tora". Nice melody, beautiful guitar work. But the Oriental "Under A Full Coloured Sky" is not my cup of tea. Too much "world music" to my taste.

"Alveo" is fully "Boléro" influenced. Hypnotic and gentle. Typical track for this band. "Merciless Tides" has more variety. The rhythm is a bit more vigourous which is welcome because one has the impression to listen to the same type of sounds. A bit too much. It is a pleasant break in between this maelstroëm of peaceful music.

"Galadriel" will also produce an epic song on this album (they did the same already on their first one). I like the scary mood of the intro for "The Gray Stones of Escalia" but the first part of the song is mellow and little inspired. Lacking in emotional moments. If it didn't sound so much to "Yes", I would say that the dull mood reminds me seriously to "Mark II Marillion". It gets better during the second half which starts with a good guitar solo, and leads to a more rocking number with powerful keys. But these good vibes will only last for three minutes. Still, during the finale, the band will take us into a great guitar orgy.

Galadriel's music is fully symphonic. Tranquil and beautiful. Their second album is better and is worth a listening. Three stars.

Strange album, I have owned it for 18 years now and I still hesitate to make a statement if it's good or not.

Galadriel's debut "Muttered promises from an ageless pond" was retro-symphonic, evoquing the soft side of early Genesis and Yes, but it was immature and very poorly recorded. After that the band lost several members most notably keyboardist David Aladro and guitarist Manolo Macia whom I believe were the most competent in terms of musicianship and responsible for that Hackett-Genesis & Yes feel. Consequently the style here is completely different: the skilled-fingers playing leaves room to more quiet and atmospheric playing, and the band brings in a lot of guest musicians for the solos and other complex parts, suggesting that they lacked the competence themselves. The only linking thread with the debut is the distinctive voice of Jesus Filardi, who if we are critical we may say that he continues to sound a bit as a Jon Anderson wannabe. The problem is that his singing style is so calm and lazy that he seems to slow down the music themes themselves. Someone said that it's as if "he's trying to make us all fall asleep" and while this is obviously an exageration, I get the point.

On the positive side, the production is very good with great attention to details, and the music does not fall into the easy trap of cliché neo-prog or other relatively easy styles. The music is a strange and quite original mix of classic prog, neo-prog, world music, new age and eclectic. The total result is maybe closer to Eclectic than to what we understand as Neo.

"Senshi" starts very softly but picks up some tempo blending pop-neo-prog-new-age in a style similar to some modern Yes, in the middle it has a guitar solo sounding like Pat Metheny and some spanish guitar and cajon.

"Passport to Tora" is a short instrumental, basically a guitar solo on a bed of supporting instruments, a bit Hackett-like. Simple but pleasant.

"Alveo" is a bolero. I'm not very fond of boleros but it's a sort of musical curiosity and it has some nice moments.

"Under a full-coloured sky" is more world music, with sitar, melodic percussion and spanish guitar.

"Merciless tides" is a very curious track, difficult to describe with some odd beats and key changes and a soft middle section. Quite interesting from a musical point of view, unusual and eclectic.

"The gray stones of Escalia" is the suite, clocking at nearly 19 min, but it fails to deliver. It starts interestingly and intriguingly, immersing us in a slow epic pilgrimage accompanied by very good vocals, but it takes very long to reach anywhere, instead of picking up to some clear point it keeps lingering in soft world music lazy moods. It's not until over 9 min that it gets some energy but then it's in the form of an unconvincing pop-rock section. It softens again to a nice promising soft bridge section, only to end up again in a disappointing finale borrowed from standard Neo-Prog motives.

Not bad but not good enough. I have no problem at all with soft calm music, but when music does not have energy it should supplement it by feeling and emotion, or by sheer musicianship skills, and this album does not have enough of any. Interesting enough not to deserve 2 stars but not more for my taste, although more eclectic minds than mine may appreciate it more.

The music of Galdriel finally made some noise back in late-80's, selling over 2000 copies and with Musea showing an interest to sign the band.This way ''Muttered Promises From an Ageless Pond'' saw a CD reissue in 1990.In the meantime the band with a re-constructed line- up led by keyboardist Jesus Filardi started rehearsing on the new album in Madrid.The album was ready before the summer of 91', but Galadriel suffered during the recordings from serious come's and go's almost in every position.Eventually ''Chasing the Dragonfly'' was released in March 1992.

The strong YES influence remains the band's driving force both in the vocal and guitar department, while Galadriel insist on creating smooth, delicate arrangements over a more complex and progressive material.The violin is more evident in the instrumental parts, the guitar work lies somewhere between the technical view of STEVE HOWE and the more melodic side of STEVE HACKETT, the keyboard work remains steadily in the background creating some ethereal dreamy soundscapes, while Filardi's voice sounds exactly like JON ANDERSON.The style follows the vein of the previous album, somewhere between Neo Prog and light Symphonic Rock.However the huge changes during the recordings seem to have hurt the band badly.''Under a Full-Colloured Sky'' is just a New-Age piece of uninteresting music, the rest of the tracks rely heavily on Filardi's voice, the instrumental parts are limited to smooth and careful interplays while the melodies are a bit pale and unmemorable.The compositions follow constantly a down-tempo, almost hypnotic at moments and only when the members are in full collaboration one can see the full potential of the band.

While things were going the right way for Galadriel regarding their marketing and distribution, musically the band made a step backwards with some less-inspired musicianship and a mediocre composition level.Even this way a couple of early tunes are easily compared to their decent debut and enough to make the album recommended for Neo-Prog fanatics...2.5 stars.